Final Fantasy VII Into the Storm
by Igno
Summary: Two Air Force pilots get thrust headlong into a battle to save a world not their own. A battle so intense, one won't live to see its end. . .
1. Prolouge A New Enemy

Final Fantasy VII

saving a world not their own

**Prolouge - A New Enemy**

If there was one thing Kent and Zack liked more than flying, it was blowing stuff up. That's why they joined the Air Force - they got to fly _and_ blow stuff up. They couldn't quibble with that.

Well, Zack could. He was the backseater in the F-18 they shared, and Kent was known for doing some really crazy stuff. At the local air base, they called him 'The G Man". Normally, his tactics consisted of "outmaneuver the other guy", which worked, tied Zack's stomach in knots, and usually ended up crumpling panels on the wings, making him not so popluar with the ground crew.

This day, however, was a little different, and was about to get very interesting.

"Hey, Zack," Kent began. "You reading anything out of the ordinary?"

"Nope." Zack replied.

Kent sighed. They were on patrol duty over the pacific ocean, on a crossover program, putting him on an aircraft carrier. Which he didn't like one bit.

"Dragon two, say feul." Kent's flight leader called out.

Kent looked at his feul gadge. "Hoo boy," He began. "I've got five thousand pounds."

"I copy that." The flight leader said. "Go ahead and head on back. I'll be right behind you."

"I copy." Kent replied, and turned to head towards the aircraft carrier.

"I'm reading an SU-35 on radar." Zack said.

"Hmm. Dragon one, are you reading an SU-35 on your radar?"

"Negative, Dragon two. You must be seeing things."

"Copy." Kent replied. "Zack, you still reading it?"

"Yeah." Zack replied.

"Dragon two to ASCAP, I'm still reading an SU-35. Are you reading it?"

"Negative, Dragon two."

Kent shook his head. "This is wierd."

"Wait. . ." the ASCAP commander began, "Holy shit! I'm reading multiple bogies inbound! SU-35s and MiG-31's!"

"Shit!" Kent shouted. "I gotta bug out, I can't dogfight now. I'm bingo feul."

"I copy Dragon two, you get the hell outta there!"

"Hey, Kent, we're about to have some company!" Zack shouted.

"Great. . .we don't have the gas for this shit." Kent murmered trying to get a look at the enemy plane on his tail. "Where is he?"

"He's right on our six!"

Kent grinned evilly. "Ever do a landing without gas?"

There was silence in the cockpit. "No, Kent." Zack said. "Hell no."

Kent pushed the throttle to the max, selected afterburners, and rocketed almost straight up.

"Goddammit, Kent, how much gas we have left?"

Kent looked at his feul meter. "Not nearly enough to be doin' this shit. I'm keepin 'us alive."

"Not for much longer!" Zack shouted. "He's about to have our asses in his scope!"

"Then hold on!" Kent flipped the plane upside down and pulled up hard, sending their F-18, which was probably far too big for the aerobatics he was performing, almost into the water. He cut back on the power and grinned as the MiG-31 flew into his sights.

"Dragons, I've been fired upon!" Dragon one shouted.

"Beautiful." Kent murmered as he selected his sidewinder missiles. "Get me tone, Zack."

"I'm workin' on it," Zack replied. "Almost. . .got it. . ."

Kent heard the insistant sound of his missles having a lock on the enemy. He pulled the trigger and watched the sidewinder dance away from his wing and almost into the tailpipe of the MiG.

Kent looked at his feul and saw that he had already flamed out on his right engine. "Fuck! Flameout on engine two!"

"Flameout!?" Zack asked, ready to pull the handles.

"I've got it. . ." Kent murmered. "You farmiliar with the water escape plan?"

"No."

"You may wanna get really farmiliar with it real fast." Kent replied. "Dragon one, I gotta bring it down in the water."

"Just do it! I've got my hands full!"

"Shit, Kent, I'm reading three more on our tail!"

Kent looked about the cockpit. "This definitely isn't good. Red Crown, get me a chopper, I'm about to go in."

"I copy, Dragon Two." There was a brief pause. "ETA of Seahawk is two minutes."

"Copy." Kent said. "This is the time where we count our losses and. . ."

Kent's words got lost in the jetstream as Zack pulled the ejection handle. As his parachute inflated, he saw the Seahawk helicopter closing on his position.

"What's the word?" Kent asked, coming out of the shower.

"Nothing yet." Zack replied. Kent's roomate, Matt Johns, sat on the bunk bed. Plane crews couldn't fly together, so that if one went down or died, somebody had the grizzly job of writing a letter to the family. Zack and his roomate, Nick Mill, joined Kent and Matt in the undersized room.

"Man, Kent, you have to be the biggest dumbass I've ever seen." Matt replied. "Although flaming out in the middle of a flip is a pretty nifty trick."

"Yeah, yeah, I thought it was." Kent grinned.

"That has to be the biggest load of BS I've ever heard." Zack said.

"That, too."

The room erupted in laughter as the phone rang. Kent picked it up and listened into the reciever.

"Yeah, this is he. Yeah, Zack's here, too. I'll make sure to relay the news. Thank you."

"What's up?" Zack asked.

"You know that uber maneuverable two man F-22 they have under the deck?"

"Yeah. . ." Zack began.

"We're the pilots."

"Damn, man." Jeff said. "Where do I get one?"

"Just follow my fine example."

The room erupted in moans and groans.

"Okay, the guy said this thing is exactly like the F-18, and we aced the combat sims." Kent said. "You ready, Zack?"

"My ass groove's gone. . ." Zack groaned.

Kent sighed. "I'll take that as a yes. Trust me, after a day flying with me, you'll have your groove back, and then some."

Kent signaled to the catapult operator, then snapped a salute. Suddenly, he was hit with a force six times that of normal gravity. Before Zack knew what happened, the F-22 was climbing away from the aircraft carrier and towards the combat zone from three days ago.

After refeuling from the takeoff, the flight of F-18's plus one F-22 began their patrol. "I swear, I'm not gonna get used to this thing."

"What do our scopes say?" Kent asked.

"I'm not reading much of anything. . .hold it. . .I have four contacts, one for each of us."

"You guys hear that? Our playmates are back."

"I copy, Dragon two. My scopes read the same thing."

Kent grinned. "Let's get down. . ." Selecting his radar guided ammram missile he targeted the lead SU-35. "This'll piss 'im off."

"I'm reading a lock. Let 'em have it."

There was a slight vibration as the bomb bay opened, revealing their missiles as well, and launched an ammram missile.

"They're scattering!" Dragon one shouted.

Kent selected full afterburners and began chasing one of the MiG-31's.

"I'm reading MiG-29's, seven of 'em! They were waiting for us!"

"No big suprise." Kent replied, watching the MiG-31. "Get me a lock if you would be so kind. . ."

As soon as Kent heard the growling of the missile lock, he let the missile fly. Ahh, the wonders of fire and forget missiles. . .

"Looks like they just found us. . .opening those bays made our cross-section light up like a light."

"Shoulda been expecting that. . .how many on our tail?"

"One on our tail, two coming down on an attack chute."

Kent grinned. "Then let's dissapear." Gripping the stick, Kent pulled up as far as he could, which happened much faster than the F-18. Thank god for thrust vectoring, Kent thought as he riddled an SU-35 full of holes with his guns. He watched it go up in flames.

"Splash one." Kent said.

"Oh, shit! One of 'em has lock!" Zack shouted.

Kent ejected a bundle of flares and pulled the agile fighter to the left, trying to get behind the fighter. Zack watched in amazement as the missile, rather than explode in a firey malestrom of shrapnel, exploded into a blue orb of. . .something.

"Izzat a plasma yield weapon!?" Zack asked.

"Negative." Dragon one said. "I don't know what it is, but whatever it is, it's just. . .sitting there. Don't worry about it."

"I've got him. . ." Kent murmered. "I need a lock."

Zack commited the radar to the task of locking onto the MiG-31 in front of them. "Kent. . .there's two Fulcrum's behind us. . ."

"I see 'em," Kent murmered, referring to the MiG-29's on his tail. "Fox one!"

Kent watched as the Aim-9 sidewinder danced from under the plane and into the tailpipe of the SU-35 in front of them.

"They've got tone! I'm reading a missile launch! No, multiple missile launches!"

Kent hit the air brakes and pulled up hard. "Those things ain't gonna touch - "

In a sphere of blue and green swirls, the experimental F-22 dissapeared.

"-Us." Kent finished. "Hey, uhh. . .where are we?"

"I have no friggin' idea." Zack replied. "I'm reading absolutely squat."

"That's what I thought, although I _am_ seeing some pretty heavy pollution of to the east. We should check that out, see if that leads anywhere. I don't know of any cities that give off green smoke, though. . ."

Three minutes passed before they saw the city. "Dude. . .are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Zack began.

"If you're referring to the huge pizza in the sky, yes." Kent replied. "I'm gonna duck undeneath those plates, see if I can's see anything."

"You're just doing that to see if you can, aren't you?" Zack replied.

"That, too. . ."

Kent lowered altitude and shot under the plates. "Luckily, there's not much here to kill us. . ."

"Except that exploding pilliar." Zack replied.

"What!?" Kent asked.

"Two o'clock."

Kent looked out the cockpit and saw a stone support pilliar beginning to detonate. On a metal control pilliar by it, four people fought, one of them with an incredibly oversized sword and another one with a gun grafted onto his arm.

"Dude. . .this slice is about to come down right on _top_ of us!"

"Shit! It is!" Kent shouted, and selected afterburners. The plate began to buckle as its overhead supports broke. Kent swore as he felt the plate barely tag his rear tail.

Kent breathed out a sigh of relief. "Are we good?"

Zack checked behind them. "Our rear tail's bent about six inches from the end, but we look okay.

Kent sighed as they began to flame out.

"Dude. . ." Zack began, "Are we outta gas?"

"Nope," Kent dully began, "The smoke's smothering our mixture."

"We're just having _all_ the luck, aren't we?"

Kent sighed, and flipped through his comm channels, only reading one signature - the Shinra Battle Net.

"Well, seems like this'll work. Shinra Battle Net, this is Dragon two, sending out a mayday."

"We copy you, Dragon two. . . Please state your emergency."

"I'm flaming out by some city with some wierd blue smog. . ."

"Which would be Midgar," The officer irritably responded.

"Right, I'm flaming out by Midgar, I've got some control problems, and I'm gonna need some gas, too."

There was a brief pause. "Once you get out far enough, could you please bring your aircraft in for an inspection. We've never seen something quite like your plane."

"Uhh, yeah. It's an experimental F-22." Kent replied, almost beaming. The engines began to kick up again.

"F-22, eh. . . alright, we're clearing a runway on Sector. . . four."

"Thanks." Kent said. "Dragon Two out."

Zack sighed. "Alright. What's the plan?"

Kent sighed. "I don't know how long they're gonna buy us being on their side. I saw two groups on that pilliar; the dude with the suit, and the others. I highly doubt that the guy in the suit is the good guy, 'cause I saw another one in a chopper, holding some girl. And it had the 'Shinra, Inc' symbol on it. Okay, the way I see it is we've got the most advanced fighter here, so we might as well help the resistance group."

"I got your thinking. . ."

"Dragon Two," the radio flared to life, "We're seeing that you don't have the Mako Drive installed yet. That could take a couple days."

Kent looked at Zack. "You remember how to fly?"

Zack grinned. "You betcha. I'll cover 'ya."

"Good." Kent said, as he spotted the small landing strip, with five arresting wires. Next to it, a landing officer with lights behind him appeared.

"This is Dragon One, I've got the ball."


	2. Part One Travelers Together

**Part One - Travelers Together **

Kent looked about the small office he and Zack were taken into. "Okay, so you guys are apparently very new. You don't even have the mako infusions yet."

Kent nodded.

"Okay," The man in the blue suit said. He had black long hair and a dot on his forehead. Kent would never understand the reasoning behind it. "So, we need to schedule you two for a mako infusion."

"Preferrably ASAP." Kent replied.

The man in the suit grinned. "Good, good." He took two hypodermic needles out of his suit. "You want me to do it, or will you?"

"Just tell me where to stick it, mister. . ."

"Just call me Tseng."

"Alright, then, Tseng, where do I stick it?"

"Right arm."

Kent nodded, pulled up the sleeve of his flight suit, and injected himself. "And what's this stuff supposed to do?"

"Heightened senses, reflexes, strength. . .after, of course, the intense shooting pain."

Kent looked at Tseng for a moment. Then, he gripped his arm, letting out a howl of pain. Moments later, Zack joined him. Five minutes later, Kent wiped the tears from his eyes, and stood up.

"Now, take a look." Tseng said, holding up a mirror.

Kent looked in the mirror and gasped as he saw that his brown eyes now had a glow to them, as well as Zack's.

"Cool."

"Okay, then." Tseng said, handing each of them phones. "These things have your new addresses in them, and we'll call you when your plane's ready."

"Thanks." Kent said, extending his hand.

Tseng shook Kent's hand. "See 'ya in a few. . ."

Kent and Zack stood up from the long train ride. From what they could see, the devestation of the falling sector plate was complete, but now, they had a bigger task - finding the resistance group.

The two of them emerged into a place known only as "The Wall Market". Peddlers everywhere tried to sell them anything they could get their hands on. The two continued walking until Kent spotted the huge sword. Following the group, they found themselves behind a group of three, the man with the gun arm, the man with the sword, and a woman wearing impossibly skimpy clothes, her hands adorned with spikes.

"What's that wire look like to you, Cloud?" The man with the gun arm asked.

"It looks like an ordinary wire." Cloud, the man with the sword, replied.

"Well, to me, it looks like a golden, shiny wire of hope."

Cloud laughed, and turned around. Looking at the two intruders, he drew his sword. "We've got company. . ."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Kent began, holding his hands up in a quick surrender. "I'm on your side."

"Same here." Zack replied.

The man with the gun arm turned around, his gun pointed at Kent. "I dunno. . .you look like you're with the Shinra to me."

Cloud looked at the two. "You guys have mako eyes?"

Kent grimaced. "Uhh. . .long story short, we somehow got teleported here, we saw you and the other guy fighting, got clipped by the plate, tricked the Shinra, getting our plane retrofitted to fight with you."

Cloud looked at them. "How do we know we can trust you?"

That was a good question. Kent drew his gun, causing all three of them to start. Kent then dropped the clip out of his gun, and fired the one remaining round in the chamber into the ground. He threw the full clip behind him and dropped his gun on the ground, followed by his fifty caliber Desert Eagle he packed in case he needed some heavy power, and his combat knife. "Feel better?"

"A little." Cloud replied. "Tell me, why are you here, anyway?"

"Okay, allow me to simplify." Zack said. "We're in a strange land. We don't trust the Shinra. Who else is there to trust but you?"

Cloud looked at the two. Finally, his glowing eyes softened a bit and he sheathed his sword. "I'm Cloud Strife, ex-SOLDIER, first class. These are my friends, Barret Wallace, leader of the resistance group AVALANCHE, and this is Tifa Lockheart, a member."

"Well, I'm Kent Hartmann, and this is my radar operator, Zack Pepp."

"Pleasure." Barret said. "Now, we need to infiltrate the Shinra tower and get Aerith back, and kick some executive ass!"

"Aerith?" Kent asked. "Girl with brown hair, green eyes, pink dress?"

"Yeah." Cloud said.

"Ahh. Zack and myself had some time to chat with her. She said that if we found you, to tell you to hurry up."

Tifa muttered something under her breath. Kent didn't dignify it with a response.

"Wait. . ." Barret began, leveling his dangerous looking gun at Kent, "Why were you in the Shinra tower, anyway?"

"They didn't think we were Shinra pilots."

Kent grinned. "We're not."

Barret sighed. "Let's just go, man. This is getting waaaay too confusing."

"Not suprising." Kent replied. "Let's go."

The group of four looked upon the Shinra building, looming like a mountain, high over Midgar.

Zack's phone rang. Taking it from the breast pocket of his flight suit, he picked it up. "They've finished the plane."

Kent nodded. "Why don't you get it. I'm gonna go up with these guys."

Zack nodded. "Alright. I'll call 'ya with a meeting spot."

"Aight."

With that, Zack walked into the front door of the Shinra building.

"Okay, any attack ideas?" Cloud asked.

Kent grinned, and took a piece of paper out of his wallet. From another pocket in his flight suit, he took out a pencil. "Okay, we've got two plans. We can waltz in, kick ass, and take names."

"Hell yeah!" Barret shouted. "That's my kind of idea!"

"However, seeing as Zack just went in that way, we won't be doing that. We'd loose our air coverage. But, I do have a good idea of what resistance is gonna look like. If we can get up to the 59th floor, we can sneak in. There's a side entrance, but it's all stairs."

"That's one long walk. . ." Cloud mused. Suddenly, his face contorted into confusion. "Whaddaya mean 'air cover'?"

"Zack and myself are fighter pilots, therefore, we have a plane. The Shinra just finished converting it, so Zack's gonna go get it."

As if on cue, the F-22 flew overhead. "Speak of the devil. . ." The plane was spewing a green exhaust and went a good deal quicker.

"Okay. . ." Cloud mused. "I'm thinking the side way. Once we get Aerith, we can bail, and that'll be the end of that."

"What 'bout the Shinra?" Barret asked.

Cloud sighed. "We can't just go in and kill President Shinra. We'd be swamped with so many SOLDIER's, we wouldn't know what to do."

"We'll worry about Shinra later." Kent said. "Right now, we worry about getting Aerith out."

"Works for me." Cloud said. "Let's go."

Kent sighed. He and Cloud were the only two already up to the thirtieth floor. "Hey, you guys wanna hurry up?" Kent called down.

"_Eat it_!" Tifa shouted up.

Kent chuckled. "So, how'd you wind up meeting Aerith? She seemed like a pretty nice girl."

"Yeah," Cloud dreamily said. "I first met her after we blew up the Sector One reactor. She was selling flowers, so I decided to buy one. After all, you almost never see flowers in Midgar."

Kent nodded. "And then she followed you back to wherever it was you went, right?"

"Nope." Cloud said. "The second time we met was after we blew the Sector Five reactor. We were attacked by some huge robot called the 'Air Buster', but we destroyed it. Unfortunately, it also took out the section of bridge I was standing on. Anyway, I wasn't able to climb up before the reactor blew, and I fell into a church, where Aerith grew her flowers. Of course, she was there. And that's pretty much the story of how we met."

"I see." Kent said. "I can _also_ see by the look in your eyes you like her."

Cloud turned red. "I most certainly do _not_!"

"Sure, sure." Kent replied. He let his hand glide to his gun, where he noticed the clip was gone. "Oh, shit. I left my clip down below! I need a weapon."

"I think I have _something_ you can use," Cloud began, digging around in his backpack. He came out with a six inch metal rod.

"Oh, wow." Kent said, dripping with sarcasm. "I can already see myself kicking ass with this."

Cloud pushed a button on the end of it. It extended into a six foot staff, albeit a little worn.

"This is what Aerith used before we splurged on a new weapon for her."

"I've never been much of a staff guy." Kent said. "Hey, Barret and Tifa still have a ways to go. . .wanna spar?"

"Uhh. . .sure." Cloud replied. He took his sword off it's magnetic locks on his back and went to his fighting stance. Kent took a stance of his own, looking very uneasy about his posture.

Cloud sighed. "Here, try this." He handed Kent his huge Buster Sword. Picking up the huge sword, he almost instantly felt like he had more power over it than he did the smaller, lighter staff.

"I like this." Kent said.

"I'll make sure we grab you a Hardedge from a SOLDIER." Cloud said, taking his sword back. "'Till then, just make due with the staff."

"Alright, let's get going." Kent said, starting up the second half of the stairs, Tifa and Barret grumbling.

Continuing up the stairs, Cloud and Kent continued to talk. "So, what's the plan _after_ we get Aerith?"

Cloud looked at Kent. "I suddenly wish I had more foresight than that. . ."

Kent sighed. "Lovely. I guess we play it by ear, eh? I suppose we could always just bail and live a life of leisure in the plains."

"Maybe." Cloud said. "You're in the Air Force, any ideas?"

"As for me," Kent began, "I'm gonna head back home. . .I have no clue where this place is, and until we show up, Zack and myself are gonna be posted as missing in action. Not good. Actually," Kent began, "My parents were killed in a car crash shortly after I finished college. Maybe. . ."

"Maybe what?" Cloud asked.

"I'll probably just end up heading back home, start a life. I mean, after this, I'm pretty much done, and I'll have enough to actually get my degree."

"Most likely." Cloud said. "So, you don't have a girlfriend or anything?"

"Naa." Kent began. "I had a girlfriend my junior year of high school, but we broke up shortly after my senior year. It just wasn't working out."

"Long distance?" Cloud asked.

"Yeah."

"I know how that is."

Kent nodded. "Oh, yeah. I'm sure your magic powered cars get wonderful gas mileage, but my Hyundai doesn't exactly have the best mileage on the face of the earth."

"Actually," Cloud began, "These cars are mako powered. You stick a piece of materia in it, and it'll run for a good thirty hours without needing another piece."

"Cool." Kent replied. "We're here."

"You big music people?" Kent asked as the elevator moved up. Between the four of them, the roboguards literally had no chance, and they hadn't even started a fuss. It was. . .a miracle.

"Suppose it depends on what you're talking about." Cloud said. "I never had a chance. Sure, Nibelheim had a school, but it was, y'know, basic arithmetic. The Midgar school system had a music program, but it was on a tryout basis only. I tried out for drums, but before I even got on, they asked me if I knew what 'traditional' grip was. Of course, I had no idea, so they stuck me on bass drum. I hated every minute of it."

Kent laughed. "Sounds a little like my percussion life."

"I play a little piano," Tifa began.

"Really." Kent began. "That's cool. I learned a litte in music theory back in good 'ol Spokane, before I joined the Air Force. Ahh, good 'ol Mr. B. I wonder how he's doing, nowadays. . ."

The elevator chimed and opened, revealing the sixtey-fourth floor of the immense Shinra building. "I'm suprised you're not getting nailed for that sword on your back, dude."

"It's not really odd to see someone walking around with a huge sword here, y'know." Tifa said.

"Meh." Kent replied, walking into one of the rooms. "Man, I need a drink." Looking around, Kent saw a pop machine, holding all sorts of pop he'd never even heard of before.

Digging in his pocket, he picked out a dollar bill and walked to the machine. Upon closer inspection, the machine only took five, ten, twenty-five, and one "gil" currency.

"Here," Cloud said, giving him a one gil coin. "Don't worry about it."

Kent looked at the coin. Oddly enough, it had the Shinra symbol on it with three lines moving down it lengthwise. Shrugging, he put the coin in the machine.

And the machine winked out.

"Oh, christ." He muttered. On the aircraft carrier, to get the machines all you had to do was give it a swift kick. He shrugged and gave it a mighty kick.

"Hey!" Someone yelled. Kent reached for the bar in his pocket, ready to spring it out and hit someone over the head with it.

"Please, no violence here!"

"Right, right." Kent said, and took his hand out of his pocket. It was really getting hot in that flight suit. He zipped it down a little, revealing his olive drap tank top and his dogtags. Taking his arms out of the sleeves, he tied them around his waist, a technique he learned from the indoor percussion shows he did in high school. He still needed a better pair of shoes and pants, thought. His flight boots were not comfortable by any means.

He sighed, and left the room to join Cloud, Tifa, and Barret. "Alright. We all set on this floor?"

"Yeah." Cloud said, fingering the elemental materia he had snapped into his sword with his bolt materia. In his armor was his ice materia, along with the restore materia he'd given to Aerith before she was kidnapped. He found it on the floor of the fifty-ninth floor.

"Alright, then." Kent said. "Let's go." It was wierd. Cloud seemed to be really spacey now that they'd gotten into the Shinra building .And with Cloud went Tifa, too. Which left the only two halfway competent members, Barret and Kent himself. They hadn't gotten into a fight in a long time, but Kent was sure if they got into a fight, It'd be Kent and his staff and Barret and his gun.

"Hey, Cloud," Kent began, "Are you gonna be using your sword anytime soon?"

"Huh? Oh. . ." Cloud began. Wherever he was it sure wasn't there. "You mean my sword?"

"No, your pants." Kent said.

That got a laugh out of all of them.

"Yeah, I suppose." Cloud said, taking his sword off it's magnetic locks and then taking the locks themselves off. "It's just like putting a bra on."

Kent looked at Cloud. "And you know this why?"

Cloud blushed. "When we needed to get Tifa out of Corneo's, I needed to, well. . ."

Kent shook his head. "Stop right there. That's all I need to hear." Kent put the magnetic locks on his back, then slid the obscenely oversized Buster Sword into place.

"Whoa." Kent began, almost toppling over backwards. "On second thought, you keep it. I thought I saw a set of locks and a smaller sword in a locker. I'll go grab it."

Cloud put the locks back on and slid the sword back into it's place. He felt naked without it strapped to his back. Cloud heard a bit of commotion, then saw Kent, a Hardedge and it's locks in hand, and a man with only a pair of boxers and a tank top on running after him.

"Run like hell!" Kent shouted, blowing past them. Taking off in a dead sprint, the three followed Kent into the door. Right before the Third Class SOLDIER Kent had stolen the sword went through the door, the door slammed shut, causing a very painful clunk and a satisfying thump. The poor guy had knocked himself out cold.

"Sucker," Kent said, putting the sword on his back. "That's better."

"Looks good on you, too." Tifa said.

"Thanks." Kent replied. "Well, let's hit it."

Zack finally found a place to land the plane. He was not a pilot, and it showed. Luckily, he'd had some training in an F-18 if the need had arisen, but thus far, it hadn't.

He was going to land by a little place called "Costa Del Sol", Coast of the Sun; it looked like a nice place to enjoy some R&R. He'd earned it, anyway. Being Kent's backseater was not an easy job. He was sure his heart had exploded at least twice in the time he'd been in the cockpit with that crazy asshole, the whole time asking for a lock. More than once he'd wanted to yell at him for the crazy shit he'd done, but, then again, he'd saved their lives more than enough times to make up for it. In the end, he just ened up going in circles around it.

He sighed. At least he could take a little break.

Finally, he landed, and found himself lounging on the beach in nothing but his shorts and tank top. Man, the sun felt good after being in that flight suit for so long.

"Stop!"

The word woke him up from his daydream to realize that someone was running off with a lot of something important.

"Theif!" The shop owner finished saying. Zack took his gun out of his flight suit and ran after the theif, holding a bag full of sparkling gems and a large four pointed star attached to her back.

Zack poured it on. He was suprised, the make infusion really added some speed to his already fast sprint. The girl with the gems was fast, too, though, and seemed apt to dodge any bullets he launched her way.

She sprang off the dirt into a palm tree, well out of the reach of Zack. Of course, Zack was a man of many ideas. Using the knowledge that when height increases, stability decreases, he grabbed the trunk of the tree and shook for all he was worth. With an ungraceful "shit!", she came tumbling down the tree, bag and all. Zack caught her before she hit the ground.

"Hello, there." He said, grabbing the bag of gems.

"Hey, leggo!" She shouted, thrashing about in his arms.

"I will as soon as you give me my wallet back." Zack said, noticing that she'd taken his wallet out of his shorts while she was thrashing.

She sighed. "Oh, fine."

"With the money, please."

She grumbled, and gave him the wad of fives and tens he had.

"You're pretty observant."

"Yes, I am." Zack replied. "My ID, please."

She sighed, and handed him back his Military ID and his driver's licence.

"Now, how 'bout my credit cards."

She grumbled and handed him back a Visa and a debit card.

"The other one, please."

"Jesus, can't you just let me go or something?"

"As soon as you give me back my money."

She grumbled, and handed him the wad of money once again. Finally, with a mighty thrash, she managed to get out of his grasp, but he still had the bag of jewels.

Suddenly, his eyes went wide. He checked his pockets and noticed something that really screwed himself and Kent over hardcore.

"She has the key to the goddamned fighter!"

Kent sighed. He was in a cell with Aerith, along with the rest of the crew, including a new talking dog by the name of Red XIII. Some name. He'd let Aerith have the bed, since it was the "gentlemanly" thing to do. Besides, he still had his flight suit; that worked well as a mattress. But he'd seen his sword and Cloud's sword handed off to some very untrained looking SOLDIER Third Classmen. Oh, well, he sighed. At least Zack still had the plane.

"Where are you, little girl," Zack whispered, his gun in hand. "You have my key. . ."

At least, he hoped. He sighed, and looked over at Aerith, who seemed very at ease. They'd taken everyone's weapon, including Barret's, leaving him with a metal stump on his arm with what looked like a couple of USB ports, with a printer port in the middle of it. It wasn't a very pretty sight. Man, this was frustrating! he knew how to deal with a hostage situation, but this was by no means a "hostage situation."

"How old are you?" Kent heard himself blurt out.

"Huh?" Aerith asked, looking over at him with her bright green eyes. They almost looked mako infused.

"How old are you?" Kent repeated.

"Oh." She said, sitting up. "I'm twenty-two." She looked over at him.

"Twenty-three," He said, sitting up as well. "I don't think I ever told you my name."

"You didn't." She said, swinging her legs over the side of the bed.

"I'm Kent Hartmann, Second Liutenant."

"Second Liutenant?" She asked. "Were you a Shinra soldier?"

"Naa," Kent said. "United States Air Force."

"United States?" She asked, looking at him with a muddled look.

"Hrm," Kent began, a bit confused himself.

"Were you with Wutai during the war?" She asked.

"Uhh. . .no. I wasn't old enough." Wutai, Gulf, he'd play them like they were the same. It seemed to work for him.

"Oh, I get it." She said, giggling. "You're part of some secret organization, aren't you?" She smiled sweetly.

Kent felt the cavities growing as she smiled at him.

"I can't say. Plausable deniability."

They both had a laugh at that. "Seriously, though. Who're you for?"

"Well," Christ. This sucked. "I should say _was_ Second Liutenant. I sort of. . .defected. . .to an Anti Shinra group. Well, they went. . .under, so to speak, so I joined up with AVALANCHE, after using Shinra all I could."

"Wow." Aerith said.

"Speaking of which, how'd you get involved with a group like AVALANCHE? I mean, you're a nice girl and all, but. . .you seem too nice to go around bombing stuff."

Her sweet countenance somewhat dropped. "That's a nice thing to say. I'm not really involved with AVALANCHE, but the Shinra want me because I'm an ancient. . .they think I can lead them to the promised land."

Kent growled. It seemed like the Shinra to use a simple girl to feul their evil ambitions. "Oh, I'm sure they'll get theirs, all in due time."

He let his head hit the side of the cell they were in.

"Someone there?" Cloud asked.

"Just me, myself, and Aerith." Kent said.

"No kidding." Cloud said. "How're you two?"

"I'm about ready to kill myself out of boredom." Kent said.

"I'm about the same." Aerith replied, stretching.

"Well, at least we're all together." Cloud said.

"Yeah," Aerith said. "Just me and my two bodyguards."

"Two. . ." Kent mouthed.

"Remember, I still owe you a date."

"_Excuse_ me!?" Tifa asked.

"Oh, shit," Kent said, dropping his head. "Now you're gonna _need_ a bodyguard. Hell hath no fury like a woman's scorn."

Listening to Aerith' sweet voice, Kent fell asleep.

Kent shot awake when he heard someone scream. He looked over at Aerith, and saw she was fine, sound asleep with a smile on her face. That suited her well.

Kent realized he hadn't used the bathroom in a while, so he walked out of his cell to look for a bathroom.

Hold the phone. . .walked out of his cell? "When'd this open?"

He looked over to the other side of the hall and let out a choked yelp. "What the hell happened!"

That woke Aerith up. "What's wrong," She mumbled, sitting up. She was not a morning person.

"I. . .I. . .oh, shit, Aerith. . .I think something bad's going on. . ."

Aerith looked over at Kent with a still half asleep expression. Upon further inspection of her current situation, her eyes widened. "How'd you get out there?"

"I dunno, but you'd better have a look at this. . ."

Aerith walked out of the cell and looked where Kent's eyes met the dead soldier on the ground, face down in a pool of his own blood.

She turned a sickly pale color and put a hand on the wall to keep herself from toppling over.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

Her mouth moved, but no words came out. Finally, she passed out and went limp against the wall.

"Poor girl," Kent whispered, and walked over to the guard. Putting his flight gloves on from his flight suit, he grabbed the keys from the guard and opened Cloud's cell, rousing him from a light sleep.

"Huh, wha. . ." Cloud began, looking at Kent. Much like Aerith, his suprise took him by, well, suprise. "How'd _you_ get in here?"

"Something happened to the guard. I have a feeling we're in deep shit."

Still pale, Aerith came into the room, the Buster Sword strapped to her back, almost threatening to tip her over backwards. As it was, if she stood straight up, the tip would drag on the floor.

In her right hand, she used the Hardedge to steady herself, and in the other hand, the locks for it. "I found. . .your swords."

"Thanks." Kent said, taking the bulky Buster Sword off her back. "You okay?"

"I'm still feeling a little. . .sick," She began. "But after I threw up in the hall, I started feeling better."

"Good, good." Kent said, handing Cloud the Buster Sword. "You wanna keep my sword as a walking aid?"

"Could I?" She asked, cheering up somewhat. Some color was already coming back to her face.

"Of course." Kent replied.

They had barely noticed, but Cloud had already left the room and was letting Barret and Red XIII out of their cell.

"What're you two doing?" Barret asked. Aerith nearly jumped out of her skin. Kent reached for his gun, which, if he had it, would have been empty anyway.

"Barret, that's a good way to get yourself killed." Kent said. "Any more of this and I think Aerith' heart may explode."

Aerith weakly smiled. Any color that was in her face was now gone, again.

"Red, Tifa, and myself are gonna follow this trail, see where it leads." Cloud said, peeking into the room. "Kent, why don't you see what you can do for Aerith?"

"I'm sure I've got some rations or something. . ." Kent began.

Aerith nodded, and sat down on the bed, leaning the Hardedge across her lap. The others took off, leaving Barret behind to clean up the mess.

"I'm sure you're probably not hungry." Kent said.

She shook her head. "I'd probably just loose it anyway."

Kent looked at her for a moment, and sat next to her on the bed. He looked into her eyes, and saw a touch of fear in them. "Scared?"

"A little, yeah." She said. "Of course, with everyone else, I feel safe."

"We're all looking out for you. At least, I am." Kent said. She smiled at him, and moved her hand over his gloved hand.

Kent's heart skipped a beat. Was she actually holding his hand!?

"Were you in SOLDIER?" She suddenly asked. "I know you told me you were in the Air Force, but your eyes. . . those are mako eyes. . ."

"I guess it was a new Shinra policy." Kent said, shrugging. "They thought we were with them, and I guess the pilots are now infused with mako to enhance their reflexes."

"I see." She said. "I guess I'm just trying do dig up bad memories. . ."

Kent put his arm around her sholder. "Try not to. They'll only hurt you."

Suddenly, Red dashed into the hall where the cells were. "We've got a crisis on our hands."

Kent and Aerith looked at eachother, stood up, and began running after Red.

"You still want my sword?" Kent asked.

"Take it." Aerith said, handing him the sword. He took its handle and felt the reassuring weight of it in his hands.

"Thanks." He said, snapping it into its locks on his back. He grabbed Aerith' wrist and took off at a dead sprint after Red.

With Aerith in tow, he sprinted up the stairs, then skidded to a stop, causing Aerith to crash into his back. "He's. . .dead."

Aerith looked past Kent and saw the spectacle - President Shinra, a long katana sticking out of his back.

"The president of Shinra, Incorperated is dead. . ." Barret said.

From behind a pillar, the rotund figure of Palmer sprinted for the staircase. Kent caught him by the arm and put him in a full nelson.

"Alright, Palmer." Kent said. "Talk. Who did this?"

"Sephiroth." Cloud said.

"I. . .I. . .I. . .It was!" Palmer said, looking very much so scared. "He said he wasn't going to let us have the Promised Land!"

"Then he's with us." Kent said, letting Palmer go.

"No, he's not like that." Cloud said, his gaze fixed past the sword in the late president's back.

Suddenly, a helecopter's beating blades filled the air, charged with a mixture of fear and death.

"It's the vice president!" Barret shouted. Everyone turned around and looked at Barret. "The President's son, Rufus." He looked at the sword sticking out of the president once more.

"I've heard stories about Sephiroth. . ." Barret began. "They say he doesn't bleed or cry. That man wasn't human."

Cloud shook his head, wiping out the memories of times long gone. "Right now, we've got a different crisis on our hands."

He ran out, followed by the rest of their group, to meet with Rufus, dressed in a nice white suit, followed by an odd looking dog, it's tail a long tentacle attached to the back of its head. Rufus was about the same size as Cloud with a shock of strawberry blonde hair on his head.

Rufus jumped from the chopper and approached the group. "What a crew, what a crew." He mused. "Just who are you, anyway?"

Cloud took the initiative. "I'm Cloud Strife, ex-SOLIDER, First Class."

Kent snapped his sword out of it's locks and leaned on it. "Kent Hartmann, ex-First Liutenant, U.S. Air Force."

"Barret Wallace, leader of AVALANCHE!" Barret shouted.

"Tifa Lockheart, member of AVALANCHE." Tifa said.

Rufus looked up and locked eyes with Aerith. She tried not to look at him, and held onto Kent's arm to keep herself from running. But she couldn't bring herself to look at the new president. It was his eyes. They were as cold and as dead as sapphires.

"Aerith, a flower girl from the slums." She said, her voice quavering.

_Sweet Jesus,_ Kent thought. _This poor girl's gonna have a heart attack._

"Red XIII, a research specimen." Red exclaimed.

Rufus shook his head in mock disbelief and mirth. "What a crew." He repeated, digging his hands into his coat pockets. "Well, I'm the new president of Shinra Incorperated.

Kent looked to his right side, where Aerith was still clutching to his arm. This time, though, he didn't freak out. He knew this was where things could get hairy, and a battle could erupt any minute.

He felt like Auron from that new Last Dream game series back in his home world. All he needed were the sunglasses and the cool jacket. It was the only time he noticed that himself and Cloud had about the same build. The only difference between their bodies was that Kent's muscles were a bit bigger from marching back in his home town.

It doesn't sound very hard, but combining obscenely hot temperatures, lack of food, and sixteen hours of work into five weeks, you get built fast.

"You're only president because your old man ate it." Kent said.

Rufus walked up to him and looked into his eyes. "U.S. Air Force, eh?" Rufus asked. "Then why do you have mako eyes?"

There was no use hiding it. In the dim light, his eyes glowed enough to illuminate the upper half of his face in a brown light.

The rest of the group turned around and looked at him. It was true. "So, what does U.S. stand for, Liutenant Hartmann?"

"United States." Kent said. He used his free arm to lift his sword onto his sholder.

"United States, eh?" Rufus asked, and laughed. Kent knew why Aerith wanted to run so bad. The new president's eyes didn't have an ounce of life in them. "Well, I might as well tell you my inaguration speech. . ."

Kent growled. "I'm not interested in hearing any speech."

Rufus looked at the defiant Air Force Liutenant. "Well, then, aren't we all full of piss and vinegar." He stated more than asked.

"How old are you, anyway?" Kent asked.

"Me? Twenty-one."

Kent smiled. "Hasn't anyone ever told you to respect your elders?"

"Oh, I can imagine you're only what, twenty-two, twenty-three. It doesn't really matter. When you're president of the, let's face it, the _world_, age doesn't really matter."

"Guys," Cloud began, "Get Aerith outta here." His eyes were locked on the president.

Barret started to grumble a complaint.

"Barret, just do it." Kent repeated. "Sorry, Aerith," Kent whispered. "I gotta pay some respects myself."

She nodded, and let go of his arm. Her face now had some actual color in it, and she looked like she could take a battle or two before escaping.

"Why do you two wanna fight me?" Rufus asked.

"You seek Sephiroth and the Promised Land." Cloud said.

"I see. Did you know that Sephiroth is an ancient?"

"It doesn't matter." Kent said. "We can't let you _or_ Sephiroth get to the promised land."

Rufus looked at Kent. "And why did you wanna fight me?"

"You pissed me off. That's grounds for death." Kent said, taking a more practical stance.

Rufus looked at the two, unbuttoned his blazer, and took a double barreled shotgun out of his jacket. "I guess that means we won't become friends. . ."

Cloud snapped his sword out of his sheath and looked at the president.

Kent suddenly wished he had some air cover. He would have reached for his phone, had it not been hit by buckshot seconds before.

Tifa suddenly stopped behind the group of people. "I think. . .guys, I think I should wait here. They might need help."

Aerith nodded and lead the group to the elevator. Silently, she pushed the "lobby" button, and rested against the glass elevator, and let loose a sigh. "Oh, I'm so glad we're outta that mess. . .I need a shower."

"You and me both." Barret said, stretching. "I wonder why Tifa wanted to stay. . ."

The piercing sound of a machine gun filled the elevator, breaking the elevator walls. All three of them flopped into a prone position, bringing their weapons to bare.

The hail of hot metal stopped long enough for Barret to send a volley of his own over to the round tank that was riding the other elevator. The tank payed him no heed; after it reloaded, it just sent another hail of bullets their way, keeping them pinned to the ground.

Red looked at the tank, and reached inside his materia, looking for the flames buring inside, trying to harness the power of the ancients. He found it, grasped it, and let it loose on the tank.

Although on fire and threatening to explode, the tank kept firing. Finally, there was an explosion, blowing the top portion off, revealing a circle of rotating guns, firing rapid fire. The group was forced to the back of the elevator as the circle of bullets began to dance dangerously close to them.

Finally, there was a barely audiable click. The machine was reloading. If they didn't do anything soon, they would be shredded. Aerith was already in the market for a new dress; her's had already been riddled with quite a few close calls.

Barret checked his belt for his signature mythril bullets, affectionately called his "big shots", but he was out.

"I think this is it." Barret said. "I just wanna let you know it was a pleasure to know you."

Red looked at the machine, and focused. A split second before the machine began firing, the odd creature leapt for the machine in a blur of red and orange, drilling a hole straight through the machine. Jumping back to their elevator, he looked at Aerith and Barret as they looked at the hole. Barret's big shot couldn't make a hole that big, and it was one big ass shell. Both of them were glad the creature was on their side.

There was another chopping sound, the sound of propellers running.

"Oh, no," Aerith began, "What now?"

Barret shook his fist at the new machine. "Damn Shinra! Always trying to make life harder!"

Kent kicked Rufus' odd dog, Dark Nation, off him and took another swing at the thing. Again, he missed. The thing was fast, and with this big sword he didn't stand a chance of catching it.

Cloud seemed to be having an equally rough time. Dark Nation had set in place a barrier that Rufus could shoot through, but Cloud couldn't penetrate. Kent and Cloud were both fast, but they had both been the victims of a couple of Rufus' shots. Then again, it's hard to miss with a sawn-off shotgun. Finally, Kent hit the dog with the broadside of his sword, sending it off the ege of the Shinra tower, into some poor sap's backyard.

_Error factor - two hundred feet into someone's backyard, _Kent thought, remembering the days when he used to be a stunt biker.

This left Rufus. He looked like a deer in the headlights. Then, he smiled, aimed his shotgun squarely at Kent, and pulled the trigger.

Kent felt the brunt of the buckshot hit him in the chest, knocking him into the wall. _Wait_, Kent thought, feeling the new hole in his chest. _That's a slug. . ._

Looking down, Kent saw that there wasn't a hole in his chest, but his dogtags had taken the blunt of the shot, bending the dogtag into an odd cone. There was still a monster briuse on his chest, and it hurt to breathe. He was out, for the moment.

"Cloud, I'm out," Kent said, searching his pocket for a potion.

Rufus looked at Cloud, and cocked his shotgun. "One shot, one kill."

Cloud looked around. The barrier had several cracks and looked like it was about ready to break.

That gave Cloud an idea. From his belt, he grabbed a grenade and tossed it at the barrier. It exploded, but didn't break the barrier. But, Rufus did instinctively shield his eyes.

Bingo.

Cloud sheathed his sword and hand sprung over the barrier and the president over the smoke that the grenade left.

Rufus looked past the barrier, and saw that only Kent was there.

"Looks like your friend abandoned you, Liutenant." Rufus smirked. He was about to bring his shotgun to bear, before he got charged in the back by Cloud. Sligtly dazed, the presedent felt himself raised up to a half sitting postion. Rufus felt the punch hit home, sending a spray of blood over the deck.

Blindly, Rufus swung. He felt the hit land home, and heard Cloud's yelp of pain. He'd hit a bullet wound that sent Cloud sprawling on the ground, gasping the wound.

Rufus grabbed his shotgun and walked towards Cloud. "You know, I've never had this much fun."

"Good." Kent said, and hit the president in the ribs with the broad side of his sword, sending him flying to the ground. Kent grabbed the president by the collar and lifting him to a standing position.

"Y'know, _President_, Kent began, bringing his face mere inches away from Rufus's, "I think I'm going to enjoy beating you within an inch of your life. But, you know what I think Cloud wants to do?"

"No. What." Rufus spat.

Kent brought the president over to the side of his tower and directed both their gazes at the ruins of the fallen sector plate. "Letting you join that rubble down there. Y'see, it seems that plate crushed a whole lotta people, and, besides that, it bent my plane up."

Rufus looked at Kent and smirked. Kent felt the cold barrel of Rufus' gun against his stomach. "I think _I'm_ going to enjoy pumping this last round into your stomach."

Kent looked at Rufus almost in disebelief. Rufus's smile turned into a full on grin as he pulled the trigger.

The only sound that came from the gun was the click of the hammer hitting it's stop.

Kent smiled and sent a punch barreling into the president's cheek. "That's the only time I'm gonna be able to hit a president and get away with it. . ."

Rufus held his cheek and waved the circling chopper in. As it came close enough, he grabbed onto the runner and held on for dear life as it swung him off into the night.

Cloud cast cure on both of them, making both of them feel a hell of a lot better. "Okay. It's time for a grand escape. . ."

Both of them ran down to the sixtey-ninth floor, where Tifa awated nervously. She looked at the two battered men. "Did you get him?"

"No, he got away." Cloud said. "Things are about to get really complicated. . ."

"I've got a plan." Kent said. "Okay, here's what we're gonna do. . ."

The three people jumped out of the elevator and ran to the exit. "I'll go first," Barret said, barreling out the front. In a hail of gunfire, he dove back in, firing all the way. The building was surrounded with hundreds of Shinra Soldiers.

"I'm sorry," Aerith began, "This is all my fault. . ."

"Don't worry your pretty little head 'bout it." Barret said. "You saved Marlene, so now it's my turn to save you."

Aerith nodded, then put on a confused look as she mouthed "pretty little head".

"Might I suggest we try and find a way out?" Red XIII asked.

"Man, you're cold, jus' like someone else I know 'round here. . ." Barret mused.

Red was about to respond, but instead directed everyone's attention to Tifa, now running down the stairs.

"Come on, we've got a plan!" She shouted, looking around the floor.

"Where's Kent and Cloud?" Aerith asked.

"Don't worry about that; they're fine. Come on, let's go!"

Tifa found what she was searching for - a mako powered truck behind a blue Shinra emblem imprinted in blue glass. She knew the specs on it; good mileage, two wheel drive, fast.

Precisely what they needed. Well, the fast part anyway. Mileage really didn't matter, it had a fresh piece of materia in it.

Tifa jumped in the driver's seat, and Aerith joined her in the passanger's seat, while Barret and Red XIII both jumped into the back. They looked at the stairs as two motorcycles came down from the second level.

Cloud and Kent, their swords slung over their backs. The three vehicles then sped up the stairs, overlooking a highway through a window. The three drivers shot glances at eachother, and Aerith and Kent breifly locked eyes.

Gunning the engines, all three vehicles lunged through the glass and over an entire batallion of Shinra soldiers before they hit the highway. All three of them punched it, the motorcycles flanking the truck.

Kent looked back and brought his sword out of his sheath. "Soldiers!" She shouted. Tifa seemed to get the message, but Cloud didn't quite hear. He got the message when Kent cleaved the entire back half off a motorcycle hauling a rifle toting soldier.

Kent smiled. He was in his prime, so to speak. Inches away from death, fighting the enemy, with some cool tricks thrown in for good measure. Hitting the brakes, he slid beside an enemy soldier and cleaved the entire front half of his bike off, sending the soldier flying and sending the bike over the edge of the railing into the slums below.

_G'morning_, Kent mused as he heard the explosion. It seemed Cloud was also having a decent time, from the piece of rifle that shot past his head.

He looked behind to see if any more soldiers were coming and almost dropped off his bike, he was so startled. Headed right for them was ten tons of steel, bullets, and gears, Motor Ball painted across the front of it in red paint.

Kent fingered the materia orbs in his sword - lighting, ice, enemy skill. In other words, he had about squat.

Wait. . .lighting. . .ice? That could be used to his advantage. . .

Kent still hadn't quite gotten ahold of materia, and he was pretty sure that barreling down the highway at. . .how fast was he going. . .two hundred miles per hour wasn't a good idea. . .

_Two hundred miles per hour!_ Kent screamed at himself. This was crazy.

Especially because Motor Ball was catching up. _Alright, Kent,_ he thought, _Time for what the G man's known for. . .crazy ass shit._

Kent brought his sword to bear and looked behind him as Motor Ball caught up. Finally, it was close enough he could touch it. Springing from the handlebar, he jumped onto the top of Motor Ball, his motorcycle sent skittering across the freeway.

_I need one of those,_ Kent thought as he jumped to the top of Motor Ball. He swung his sword into the face of the thing, causing a stream of black fluid to begin to pour out of its face.

He swung once more, near its tires. He heard it's transmission begin to grind as a spray of red fluid splashed onto Kent and all over the freeway.

Motor Ball was catching up to the truck. Motor Ball would explode soon if it couldn't shift. . .Kent knew he was crazy as he leapt over to the side of Motor Ball the truck was on.

Motor Ball began to scream as the crankshaft turned at nearly ten thousand revloutions per second. The water pumps couldn't keep up as the spark plugs sparked, creating insane ammounts of heat in its immense V12 engine.

Kent sheathed his sword. "You idiot!" She shouted as he leapt off Motor Ball. . .

And directly into the bed of the truck. "Brakes!" He shouted to Tifa in the cab. She nodded, and pushed the brakes, slowing the truck down to a decent speed, as Motor Ball continued screaming down the highway, and finally exploded.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" Aerith asked, looking at Kent, covored with a red liquid.

"I'm fine." Kent said.

"You most certainly are _not_!" She said. "Lay down."

"Uhh. . .okay." Kent said, laying down on the asphalt of the highway.

"Where does it hurt?" She asked, looking both very scared and very panicked.

"Umm. . .my arms are kinda sore. . ." Kent said.

"Stop joking around!" Aerith said. "You're gonna bleed to death!"

Kent looked down, and laughed. "Oh, this is just transmission fluid from Motor Ball."

Aerith put a finger in a pool of the red liquid and sniffed it. "Well, it's not blood. . ."

The entire group burst out laughing, even Aerith after a while and turning scarlet.

"Hey, where'd you learn stuff like that?" Cloud asked, coughing to get air back into his lungs. "That stuff. . .was amazing!"

Kent shrugged. "They called me 'The G Man' back on the carrier, 'cause my stunts that kept myself and Zack alive generally ended up crimping more panels than I care to say."

"Zack?" Aerith asked, looking at the two.

"Zack. . .Pepp." Kent said.

"Oh, your friend." She said, walking over to join the two. Kent's hands were still trembling from the adrenaline. He started taking deep, relaxed breaths and looked past the horizon, into the sunrise.

From his flight suit, he pulled out a pair of sunglasses and put them on. Aerith looked at him odd before he took the darkened lenses off his glasses.

"I didn't know you wore glasses," Aerith began.

"You didn't ask." Kent replied. "And now I don't need 'em. The Mako infusion musta improved my vison. . ."

"Mind if I try 'em?" Aerith asked.

Kent handed her his glasses. As she put them on, she almost began to look like a scientist, or an old high school crush. . .

"How do I look?" She asked.

"Not bad." Kent replied.

"I've always had twenty twenty vison," She began, handing his glasses back. "So I really don't need them, but I'll tell you if I need a pair of reading glasses."

Kent smiled at the joke. This was the beginning of a beautiful relationship. . .

As she put her hand over his again.

Kent stepped back and looked at the crew. "Alright, what's the plan?"

"We know we're going after Sephiroth," Cloud said, looking into the horizon. "So I guess we. . .follow him."

"That would be a good idea." Kent said. "I imagine. . .I think going in groups of three would be a good idea, simply so we can cover more ground and keep a lookout for eachother."

"Sounds like an idea to me." Cloud said.

"We should mix skills, so. . ." Kent began, looking at the crowd. "I'll take Aerith and. . .Barret. That okay?"

"Sure." Cloud said. He really didn't care whom he traveled with, as long as he got to Sephiroth. "Let's head out."

Kent looked about the town of Kalm. Actually, it wasn't a town. . .it was more or less a village. The rest of the crew was listening to Cloud's story of himself and Sephiroth, but Kent excused himself to get some clothes.

He didn't trust the slums of Midgar, but a small town. . .yeah, he could do that. He walked into a small, locally owned shop and immideately began browsing.

"Looking for something in particular?" The old man who ran the shop asked.

"Not really." Kent replied, still digging through the wardrobe. "Ahh, I found something."

He found a pair of pants like Cloud's, a pair of SOLDIER issue boots, again like Cloud's, and a sleeveless tee shirt.

"How much for these?"

"Well. . .I'll give you the whole batch for three hundred gil."

Kent dug in his wallet and found that he only had a five dollar bill, four ones, and three quarters. Who knew what the exchange rate was?  
"Uhh. . .you take the American Dollar?"

The shop owner sighed. "Lemme see whatcha got. . ."

Kent laied his money out on the counter. The owner took the three quarters. "Three hundred gil."

Kent laughed. "Cool." He took his wallet and walked out of the shop. Sighing, he walked over to the inn and walked back up the stairs, where Cloud was wrapping up his story.

"Sorry I missed it," Kent said, climbing the last stairs, clothes in hand, "But I needed some new clothes."

He took his tank top off and threw his new shirt on. "Ahh, new clothes. . ." Looking at the group, he decided to move into the bathroom.

A few minutes later, he came out donning his new clothes. "I feel like a new man."

"You look the part, too." Tifa said. Kent laughed, and attached the sword's lock to his back. "Alright, I'm set. Aerith, Barret, you ready?"

They both nodded.

"Alright, we'll meet you at. . ."

"Lower Junion." Cloud said.

Kent nodded. "Works for me. See 'ya there."

Kent stretched, and looked around. The clean smell of a storm approaching filled the air, but the sky in front of them was almost clear, with a few whisps of clouds here and there.

"It's so nice to be out of Midgar," Aerith said, a happy gait in her step. Barret, on the other hand. . .

"Why couldn't we have kept the friggin' truck?"

"Because walking is good for you." Kent said. "I'd jog, but I wouldn't wanna leave you behind. Besides, it's such a nice day. . .I just wanna enjoy it."

"Yeah, I know how you feel." Aerith said, taking her red jacket off. "Can I put this in your pack?"

"Sure." Kent replied, handing her his worn nylon and leather backpack.

"Hey, what're we gonna do about the Midgar Zolom?" Barret asked.

"Midgar Zolom?" Kent and Aerith asked in perfect unison. Well, that's a lie. . .it was a major third. . .

"Yeah. It's some crazy snake thing that kills people with one bite. We'd be the appetizer, an' Cloud's spikey ass would be dinner."

"So, can we outrun it?"

"Only if you've got a chocobo." Barret said.

"Chocobo?" Kent asked.

"Yeah. Some crazy bird that you can ride."

"Sounds like fun." Aerith said.

"Unless we gotta catch it." Kent said. "That. . .that could be not so fun."

"Until we find out if we have to, let's just enjoy the walk, eh?" Aerith said.

Kent nodded. God, he could melt in her voice.

"Kent, are you alright?" Aerith asked.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine." He replied. "Just a little. . .distracted."

"Why's that?" She asked.

"Just reminicing 'bout the old days. . ." Kent said. That was a blatant lie, but he covered it up well.

"You're lieing," Aerith said in a singsong voice.

"Okay, then," Kent said, looking at her, "What'mi thinking about?"

"Me." She said, and giggled.

Kent looked down and blushed. This was humiliating. "Well, I'm not gonna deny it. . ."

Barret stifled a laugh. "Aerith an' Kent. . .what a pair. . ."

Kent sighed. "Well, we're almost outta the valley. . ."

"Which means onto the plains." Aerith replied.

"Which means chocobos." Barret finished.

"Yup." Kent said. He could already see tracks, and off in the distance, he saw two of them running along together. "This whole thing would be a lot easier if we just had a plane. . ."

"What about yours?" Aerith asked.

"I don't think we could fit all five of us in there. Even if we could, flying it would be dangerous."

"Oh, I don't think so." Aerith said, looking at Kent. Well, they _had_ been walking for hours, and even Kent was a little tired. . .

"Here, let's just get to the chocobo ranch, we'll stay the night there, then we'll head out tomorrow. That okay?"

Aerith nodded. Barret stayed indifferent.

"Okay, then." Kent said. "Let's go."

"Get back here!" Zack shouted, having spotted the girl once again. From his shorts he drew his gun once more and took aim. Once more, she was just too fast for him.

"There's no way I'm gonna catch 'er like this," he began, and tucked his gun back into his shorts. Forcing out a yell, he leapt into a dead sprint, and actually started to catch up. She was fast, but Zack was faster. She looked behind her, and began to panic. She knew she was gonna loose her bounty if he caught up.

Of course, the same thing would happen if she tripped over a rock, like she just did. She landed on the ground in an ungraceful heap, dust in the air around her.

"Alright, alright, I'll give ya your key back," she said. "For a price."

"I don't have time for this, sorry." Zack said. "How 'bout this. You give me my key, and I don't kill you."

"No way!" She replied. "Besides, I'd bet you couldn't."

Zack took his gun and blew a hole in her arm guard. "Don't test me."

"Alright, alright, sheesh." She said, tossing the key over to him, He caught it and held tight to it. This time, the only thing that she could steal off him was his gun and his key. . .again.

"Nice doing business with you." He said, and began to walk away.

"Ahh, this brings back memories. . ." Kent said, laying down in the tent they had to pitch. Barret was almost asleep, but Kent and Aerith had been talking for a good fifteen minutes already.

"Oh, of what?" She asked.

"Oh, back in high school, my friends and I were pretty much obsessed with our computers, so one night, we all came over to my place and decided to hook 'em up and play games."

"Oh, how fun." She said, taking the bow out of her hair.

"Yeah. Unfortunately, my dad came home and pretty much kicked us out. But, we still wanted to play games, so, using our ingenuity, we decided to pitch a tent out in the backyard of a church and run an extension cord out to the tent."

"That's a little. . .wierd. . ." Aerith said.

"But, it worked." Kent said. "Ahh, yes, a good time was had by all."

Aerith smiled at Kent. "So, tell me, is there anyone back home for you?"

"Naa." Kent said. "My parents died in a car crash shorty after I graduated college. My brother. . .oh, damn. . .I think he's working with Cubesoft on a new game or something."

"How awful. I kinda know how you feel, being the only ancient left on the planet."

"Well, there's one thing in common." Kent said, and smiled. "How 'bout you?"

"Well, there's my mom, and that's about it. My boyfriend joined SOLDIER, and I never heard from him again. I can only guess he got killed."

"I'm sorry." Kent said, seeing tears well up in her eyes.

"No, it's okay." She said, blinking away her tears. "I'm over him now. But I see so much of him in Cloud. . ."

"You like him?" Kent asked.

"Kinda. . ." She said, and looked at Kent. She blushed. "But I kinda like you, too. And from the way you act around me, I can tell you like me, too."

Kent smiled as he felt himself blushing all the way down his face. "Yeah, I do."

"Who knows," Aerith began, "Maybe one day we can hook up."

"Maybe." Kent said, and got ready to sleep. "Maybe."

She nodded, and closed her eyes.

Then she looked over at Kent, who almost began to sing in his sleep.

"If I had a million dollars. . .I'd buy you a house. . ."

Aerith laughed, turned over, and fell asleep to the soft warking of chocobos.

Aerith awoke to the smell of coffee and bacon assulting her nose. She looked over and saw that Kent had already gotten up and was probably the one doing the cooking.

She slowly crawled out of her sleeping bag and crawled out of the tent. "Hey, Kent," She said, sleep still clinging to her every word.

"Hey, Aerith." He said. "You may wanna consider coming outta the tent when you've got something on other than your underwear."

She looked down and turned several different shades of red before dashing back into the tent. Minutes later, she came back out, adorning her dress and jacket.

"That's better." Kent said, and set the frying pan he was holding with his flight gloves down, and grabbed a pot with a mixture of ham, cheese, peppers, onions, mushrooms, and scrambled eggs near the fire. "Old family recipe, Cowboy Eggs. One of the few things I'm good at cooking. We also have bacon, and I can also cook up some pancakes, if you'd like.

"If you don't mind, can I have some of that coffee?"

"Oh, sure." Kent said. "I'm not much of a coffee person myself, but I thought either you or Barret would appriciate it."

"Believe me, I do." Aerith said. Her eyes were still shaking off sleep, but her face was still cheery. Kent handed her a mug of coffee, and she took a sip. She clung onto the cup like it was the only thing keeping her alive.

"You a music person?" Kent asked.

"A little here and there, yeah." Aerith said. "I don't play anything, though."

"You have a great voice," Kent began, stirring the eggs, "You might make a good singer."

"Maybe." She said.

"Hey, I noticed you have a piece of white materia. Can I see it?"

"Sure." She said, and plucked the materia from her bow. Kent inspected the materia, not seeing much of anything in it. "I feel safe having it. It was my real mother's."

Kent nodded and handed it back. "I'm still kinda fuzzy on how you use materia."

"Oh, it's easy." She said, and took a fire materia from her staff. "Basicially, all you do is focus on it and the powers inside, then you direct them towards your target."

"Okay. I kinda get it." Kent said. "I'll have to try it later."

They heard Barret mumble. "I smell bacon an' eggs."

"Yup." Kent said.

"Aight, then. I'm gonna come out an' get me some bacon an' eggs."

"Go right ahead." Kent said.

Barret stepped out of the tent, clad in only a pair of boxers.

"Oh, christ, Barret, put some pants on."

"But Aerith had. . ."

"_Pants_!" Kent and Aerith said in unison.

"Oh, fine."

"Anyway," Kent began, "I talked to Bill, and he said we have to catch one ourselves, but first, we need a chocobo lure materia. But, before _that_, we need two thousand gil. Luckily, I just happen to have it."

"You do?" Aerith asked.

"Yup." Kent said. "I'll go get the thing right now."

Kent walked away from the tent and towards the ranch.

"That boy. . ." Barret began. "I tell 'ya, takes a special kinda man to get up and make brekfast for ya."

"Yeah," Aerith said, watching Kent walking towards the ranch. "It does."

"This is pointless." Kent said. He bought the purple chocobo lure and some greens. Kent tied the greens to a rope and set them on some chocobo tracks, then hid in the high grass. In the two hours they'd been hunkered down, they hadn't even seen a chocobo.

Barret checked his watch, and looked over at Aerith, curled up in a ball, asleep.

"She didn't get much sleep last night, did she?" Barret asked.

"About the same amount I did." Kent said. "But, then again, I'm used to running on little sleep. We stayed up for quite a while, talking to eachother."

"Aah. That would explain why she's always watchin' ya."

"What?" Kent asked, looking at Barret.

"Wha, you don't notice?" Barret asked. "I think she likes 'ya, man."

"No kidding." Kent replied, and looked at the greens. "How long have we been at this?"

"I dunno. Two, three hours." Barret said.

Three hours later, Barret had joined Aerith sleeping, but Kent, ever vigilant, kept watching the green.

_Maybe if I concentrate, I can make it blow up. . . _He thought, sleep trying to invade his mind. Suddenly, a large, yellow creature appeared by the greens. It warked curiously, then pecked at the rope. Finally, the chocobo just swallowed the green whole, rope still attached. Kent stood up and gave a tug on the rope. The chocobo looked at him, took two steps back, then took off at a run.

"Not go-" Was all Aerith heard Kent say before he dissapeared, still holding onto the rope.

"Ooooooooood!" Kent finished, being dragged on the ground behind the bird. He tried to get to his feet, but the bird was just too fast for him to keep up with, even if he was mako infused.

Letting go of the rope with one hand, he grabbed the Hardedge, jumped and put the sword under his feet. He was surfing on his sword. How cool.

_This is kinda fun,_ Kent thought, before the chocobo executed a perfect hundred eighty degree circle, snapping the sword out from under Kent's feet, and sending Kent sliding again.

Kent swore and used his hips to bounce himself up to a sliding position on his knees. This was not fun by any means. Using the sprinting bird for leverage, he hefted himself up to his feet and dug his heels into the wet ground, sending up rooster tails of dirty water and digging deep ruts in the ground. The chocobo only ran faster, the rope still attached, and Kent still holding on tight.

The bird only continued to run faster. Refusing to let the chocobo go, Kent pulled back, snapping the chocobos' neck back, stopping the runaway bird. Unfortunately, Kent was still moving quite swiftly. He ran right into the bird, sending both the chocobo and him rolling the way the came in a mass of chocobo and man.

They slid to a stop right about where they started, by Aerith. The chocobo warked happily and began nuzzling him. Looking at his armor, the materia glowed an almost pink.

"Good show." Aerith said.

Kent looked needles at her. "Just get on the bird and let's go."

"What _is_ that smell?" Kent asked, letting the chocobo go.

"Probably just swamp stuff." Barret said.

"I didn't see the Zolom." Kent said. "I wonder if that's odd."

"I couldn't tell you. . ." Aerith began as she turned around. Kent turned around to look at her, but another sight stopped him.

The Midgar Zolom, it's head impaled on a dead tree.

"That ain't good. . ." Barret began, checking to make sure his gun arm was loaded.

"I think we missed him," Kent said, taking Aerith by the sholder. "C'mon, let's go. . ."

Barret took one last look at the Zolom, then began to walk after Kent and Aerith into the Mythril Mines.

The Mythril Mines were well below the temperature outside. Before they got far into the cavern, Kent could see his breath, and Aerith was shivering almost uncontrollably.

"Wanna put on my flight suit?" Kent asked. "It'll keep you warm."

"No," Aerith said, weakly smiling. "But thank you."

Kent nodded. "Alright, then."

Barret shivered. "Would that flight suit fit me?"

"No chance." Kent said. "Wait. . .do you hear voices?"

"Yeah. . .I do." Barret said, and rushed in front of Kent into the next chamber.

Kent shook his head, drew his sword, and made sure to keep in front of Aerith. She was in no condition to fight.

"Nice to see you again," Rude, one of the Turks said. He was tall, bald. . .that pretty much sums up Rude. "Y'know, I've always found it difficult to explain what the Turks do. . ."

"Kidnapping, murder, assassinations, dirty work." Kent said, walking in front of Barret.

"In a rather crude sense, yes." Rude said, looking at Kent. His eyes illuminated the entire upper half of his face with an eerie brown light. It was starting to creep the rock hard Turk out a bit. . .

"_Sir_!" A feminine voice cried from above."I know you don't like to make speeches, so don't force it!"

Rude nodded and looked away from Kent.

Barret and Kent looked up at where the voice had eminated from and saw a woman in a turks uniform. Her hair was cut short, and she was almost a bleached blonde.

"I'm Elena, the newest member of the Turks! Because of what you did to Reno, I got promoted. . .kind of a mixed blessing, I suppose."

"Elena, you talk too much." Tseng said as he walked into the mines. He shot a glance at Kent and Barret. "Well, mister Hartmann. . .we meet again."

"We do." Kent said. "No hard feelings about defecting."

"None taken." Tseng said.

"Rude and I will head for Junon harbor, as ordered, to stop Sephiroth, who's getting in the way. . .wait, it's _them_ who're getting in the way. . ."

"Might as well let me take notes," Kent muttered just loud enough for Barret to hear.

Tseng looked past Kent and saw Aerith. "Aerith, it's so nice to see you again." Tseng smiled.

"Suprising to hear from somebody who works for Shinra." Aerith replied.

Tseng's smile melted away, and he walked out of the mines without another word.

"You have a handle?" Barret asked.

"Huh?" Kent asked, walking beside Aerith, still pretty shaken up.

"You said you were in the Air Force," Barret began, "So did you have a callsign?"

"Oh, yeah." Kent said. "I went by Igno."

"That sounds awfully farmiliar. . ." Aerith began.

"Ehh, don't worry about it." Kent said, stretching. His sword was attached to his back, the reassuring weight of the blade giving him the confidence to jump out in front of pretty much anything for Aerith, or Barret, for that matter.

Suddenly, an _almost_ blood-curdling shriek was heard from the woods they were trailing. Kent drew his sword and parked himself directly in front of Aerith. Rather than being met with some animal that was foaming at the mouth, or some half crazed Wutai soldier, he saw some crazy girl that leapt from a tree, towards him, her four pointed star poised and ready to slice into Kent.

It wasn't to be so.

Kent pointed his sword into the air towards her, far before she even got close enough to attack. She hit the dull point of the Hardedge and flopped to the ground, clutching her stomach and moaning in pain.

"I swear, Aerith, one of these days, you're heart's gonna explode."

She weakly smiled at him. "It's pretty close already."

"C'mon, let's go." Kent said, leaving the girl writhing on the ground. He took one more look, and saw that she was holding something quite odd.

The key to the F-22.

He quickly strode over to her, grabbed her by the collar of the shirt, and brought his face to within inches of hers. "Where did you get this?" He harshly asked, dangling the key in front of her face.

"I just found it. . ." She moaned.

"Bullshit." Kent said, drawing his sword with his free hand. "Zack wouldn't just leave the key to a state of the art stealth fighter-bomber laying around."

"Zack. . .Pepp?" She asked, producing a wallet.

"Why the hell do you have all this stuff!?" Kent asked.

"He turned his back on me. He _never_ shoulda done that. Kinda like you did. . ."

She produced both Kent's wallet and Aerith' staff.

Kent looked at her, took everything she was holding, and jabbed her in the jaw, hard enough to knock her out.

"That wasn't very nice," Aerith said.

"Neither was this." Kent said, giving Aerith back her staff.

"And, I swear. . .if Cloud decided to have her join us. . .there will be hell to pay. . ."

Junon was still a good day's walk ahead, and they hadn't seen anything but grass for at least five hours.

"Well, we should probably pitch a tent," Kent said when Barret brought that to their attention. "We've been walking pretty much all day, and I think I speak for everyone when I say we should get some sleep."

"I'm all for that." Aerith said. "The others are probably to the Mythril Mines, anyway.

"I _hate_ chocobos," Cloud muttered, watching the fifth chocobo they'd found run off with the last green he'd bought.

"Probably." Kent said. "I could use a rest, anyhow."

In minutes, Kent had the tent up, and Aerith had a fire going.

"Man, I'm hungry," Barret mused.

"I think I can whip something up." Aerith said. "Kent, could I use your pan and skillet?"

"Feel free," Kent said, laying down on his back. "God, this feels good. Man, I could fall asleep like this. . ."

Suddenly, his ears perked up. He heard something in the grass. . .footsteps. . .breathing. . .somewhat labored. . .it was that damned girl again.

He heard her hurl something towards the direction of camp, no doubt trying to get at Aerith or something. Sitting up and taking his sword out of it's sheath, he caught the four ended oversized throwing star and examined it.

"Decent craftsmanship. . .Sharp points. . .good throwing star."

He got up, and with all his might, threw the weapon the opposite way it came.

"Hey, you jerk! You have any idea how long it took me to get that thing!?"

"About as long as it's gonna take you to _find_ it." Kent replied, spinning to face her. "You really shoudn't be following us. Might be bad for your health."

"I know what's bad for _your_ health," Yuffie said, digging into her stuffed pockets, "This Ultima materia."

Kent sighed. "Christ almighty, what do you _want_ from us?"

"Why. . .all I want is some attention. . ." She said, "And your materia," She muttered under her breath.

"Aww, is that all you want?" Kent asked.

"I was neglected as a child," She began, fake crying.

"Aww, I'm sorry. . ." He began. She ran into Kent's arms and started bawling into his chest.

She had some _serious_ issues if she could do this on command.

And all she was holding was a piece of restore materia. In her pockets, all she had was easy blockable stuff.

"Now, could you do me a favor, and stop crying, you're not kidding anyone. Buzz off, and stay out of my sight."

The girl pushed Kent away. "Oh, fine."

She began to walk away, her head hanging.

Aerith looked at Kent. "Did you have to practice that?"

"Nope." Kent said, laying down on his back. "That was all natural."

"Oh, goody." Aerith said.

"Wow." Kent said as they approached Junon. Already he could hear a marching band, undoubtedly getting ready for the inaguration of Rufus. "I think I know how we can hide out 'till Cloud shows up. . ."

"Kent," Aerith began, "What are you thinking?"

"Tell me, you two," Kent began, "Ever wanna learn how to play cymbols?"

The two groaned as Kent lead them through lower Junon to the elevator to upper Junon. Junon, as a whole, was a lot like Midgar, a city above a town.

"And you three are. . ." The guard asked.

"We're with the band. I'm center snare, these two are cymbols."

"Okay, then. Colin Mays, Alyssa Knapp, and. . .Brian Curry?"

"That's us." Kent said.

"By all means," The guard said, opening the elevator.

The three stepped into the elevator, and as soon as the door closed, Aerith looked needles at Kent. "What have you gotten us into?"

"Oh, don't worry." Kent said, grinning evilly. "It's the perfect cover. To play plates, you really don't need to know what you're doing, all you have to know is this," Kent showed them the arm motion, "And with my extensive knowledge of playing snare, I can listen to the song once and have it memorized."

Aerith sighed. "We've got no choice now. Sometimes, Kent, I swear. . ."

"Don't worry," Kent said. "If anything happens, I know Zack's got a spare key to the fighter. We'll have air coverage in no time."

"Man, yo dumb ass is gonna' end up gettin' us killed!" Barret said.

"No, it's not. Just have a little faith, and I can get us through this."

Aerith and Barret watched, mesmorized, as Kent sight read the music that the Shinra Drum Major had given him.

"Not bad." The DM said. "You have a cadence?"

Kent grinned. "Of course I do. I just don't have it written _down_."

"Oh, I see." The DM said. "One of those people who just thinks up stuff as it comes. Alright, teach it."

"Alright," Kent said, turning around to face the absolutely giant drumline. There were twenty snares, seven tenors, ten basses, and fifteen cymbols.

"Cymbols, you just have the offbeats. Take 'em off and sit tight while I teach the other parts."

Aerith and Barret looked at Kent. "I swear, that man. . .that man is a genius."

"No kidding." One of the other cymbols. "Do you two still need to get fit for uniforms?"

"Uhh, yeah, we do." Aerith said.

"Okay, let's get that done right now."

Aerith looked at Kent and nodded. He nodded back. "Okay, snares, easy, easy, easy sixteenth accent pattern. . ."

"Cool beans." Kent said, setting his pack down in the apartment that their group had been given.

"I dunno," Barret began. "I jes' don't like the idea of hidin' in the bee's nest."

"Well, think about it." Kent said. "If we look like bees, act like bees, and talk like bees, we'll be fine."

"To be honest, Kent," Aerith said, sighing, "If we make it through this without getting caught, it would have to be an act of god."

"Okay, so it might have been a bit rash, but think of what we skipped to get up here. About the only other way I saw to get up here was the high voltage towers, which would be painful, to say the very least."

"Then how're Cloud, Red, and Tifa gonna get up?" Aerith asked.

Kent sighed. "That's the long and difficult part. We cross the ocean on the boat, then, I use the fighter to fly them over, two at a time. I dunno, I may be able to fit all three if we get someone a parka. . ."

"No, no, no," Aerith began, "We can't do that. It would take too long."

"Oh, come on. I know that where Zack set down is a nice little resort called Costa Del Sol. . ."

"Well. . .I could use I nice little vacation. . ." Aerith began.

"Now don't be gettin' any ideas, boy." Barret said. "I say we just wait for them to get over on their own. You've been workin' hard, too."

"Well," Kent began, "I suppose. I wonder what those three are dealing with, anyway. . ."

"Don't worry about it." Aerith said. "Right now, I could use a bath and a good night's sleep."

Kent grinned. "You go ahead and do that, but I'm gonna beat you to the good night's sleep part, so g'night."

"G'night, Kent." Aerith said, walking into the bathroom.

Sighing, Kent hopped up into the bunk bed, threw his boots and pants off, and quickly fell asleep.

For once, Kent wasn't the first one up, Barret was. And that was a bad thing.

"Yo, C'mon, Kent, you gotta get ready!"

Kent rolled over and looked at Barret. "For what?"

"Fo' the parade!"

Kent looked at Barret, then opened his eyes wide in suprise. "Shit, now!?"

"Yeah, now!" Aerith shouted, putting her uniform on. She looked good in the blue and black band uniforms. The only bad thing about the uniforms is that they used shakos, the tall, uncomfortable marching hats with the giant plumes.

Kent leapt out of bed and started throwing on his uniform. Aerith began packing everyone's things into Kent's pack. What they would do with it, Kent didn't know, but one thing was for sure - they needed to make a quick getaway once the parade was over with.

"What're we gonna do about the bag?" Aerith asked.

Kent looked at Barret, whom had plenty of room in his oversized uniform. "Barret, you gotta hold our stuff in your uni."

Barret looked at his teamates, trying to choke out a complaint. Before he spoke, he already knew it was futile. Aerith tossed him the bag, and he put it on before putting on his jacket.

"Man, it looks like I've got a humpback!" Barret complained. It was too late, Kent and Aerith were already out the door.

The band was already lined up, ready to play. Kent stepped into the snareline seconds before they closed the hole, and Barret and Aerith stepped onto the sides of the cymbol line.

"Sorry 'bout that, guys," Kent said.

"Don't let it happen again. You may loose your spot." the DM said. "Alright, go ahead and count it off."

Kent shrugged, and pulled his sticks out of his stick bag. This was gonna rock. Barret and Aerith had their cymbols on, the drumline was ready to go. . .

"Cadence first!" Kent shouted, then began the tap off. In unison, the whole drumline began to play Kent's old high school cadence, Spank. It had a definite groove to it, you could almost dance to it, and the crowd seemed to like it, which was a good thing. Nobody noticed the humpbacked Barret, scowling as he played his part.

Kent had worked with Aerith and Barret, as neither of them read music.

As the cadence came to an end, Kent prepared to tap off the extremely cheesy song, but hey, such is life. From out of the corners of his eyes, he saw that Aerith and Barret fit in extraordinarily well.

Unfortunately, things were about to get really interesing, really fast. The Turks had shown up. Kent tensed up. Today would be a very, very interesting day.

Kent sighed as he dashed onto the cargo ship. Aerith and Barret had already gotten on and had dumped their cymbols. . .somewhere. That wouldn't be too noticable. Kent, on the other hand, had the bottom part of his black harness sticking out of his jacket. Quickly unzipping his jacket, he took the harness off and tucked it behind a stack of boxes.

He was about to stand up when he felt something cold and metal pressing against his back. "Kent Hartmann, I presume?"

Swearing, Kent put his hands up. "That would be an astute assumption."

Kent turned around and looked at the very sloppily dressed man. "Don't the Turks have a dress code or something?"

Reno grimaced at Kent. "Shuddap and come with me."

Kent sighed and walked after the Turk, following him to the bridge. "You sure had me going for a while, Y'know? I didn't know anyone in AVALANCHE had an ounce of talent in them at all. Except for getting caught, of course."

"Don't you have a job to do?" Kent asked.

"Yeah. I'm taking you to the bridge." Reno replied.

Kent looked around and saw that he had taken them to the deck of the boat, and that a sword was within reach.

"Then, I've only got one question. . ." Kent began, reaching for the sword.

"What's that?" Reno replied.

"Why're you jumping off the boat?" Kent shouted, hitting Reno hard in the ribs with the broad side of the sword. With a choked yelp, Reno went off the side of the boat, and into the water.

Grabbing the nearby locks, he put them on and snapped his new sword into them. Still wearing a white shirt and the black uniform overalls, he ran towards the bridge.

Cloud swore as Kent was taken to the bridge. Cloud was suprised he wasn't noticed by Reno, especially with his sword, but he tucked it behind some boxes and decided to sport Kent's Hardedge. Smaller equals not as visible.

But the unnerving thing was they had Aerith and Barret. Aerith he wasn't so worried about, because he knew the Shinra needed her. Barret, on the other hand, they could just kill him and be done with it. And they'd probably do it in front of Aerith and Kent, too.

Luckily, Tifa, Red, that new Yuffie girl, and himself were on board, armed and everything. Of course, the only problem who had weapon problems was Cloud.  
There was an explosion on deck and a rather ungraceful "Oh, shit!"

From down the stairs flew Kent, wearing a pair of black overalls, black shoes, and a white T-shirt, a new sword in hand.

"Sword!" Kent shouted. Quickly, Cloud took the Hardedge out of the Buster Sword's locks - not a hard thing to do - and got into a fighting stance, right next to Kent.

Barreling down the stairs was Rufus, shotgun in hand.

"Well, well, well. Who do we have here?" He asked, cocking his shotgun. "I'm impressed you made it out of the Shinra Building."

"Cut the small talk." Kent said.

"Oh, but I do so enjoy our little chats. Oh, I was having a nice chat with Miss Gainsborough. She seemed scared of me, though." Rufus chuckled. "She said my eyes were dead."

Rufus smiled. "Fitting. They'll be the last thing you two will see before you die."

Cloud grabbed a grenade in his belt. "Oh, really." He pulled the pin and threw it. The explosion threw shreds of wood and weaponry at the three combatants, causing all three of them to hit the deck.

Reaching in the air, Kent grabbed a full clip for his since dormant Desert Eagle. Taking the gun from his inside pocket, he shoved the clip into the handle and prepared to fill the new president with fifteen fifty caliber bullets.

The smoke cleared, revealing the president, who already had a bead on Cloud.

"One shot. . ." Rufus said, and pulled the trigger.

"One kill." Kent replied, shooting Rufus' arm. Before the buckshot could get out of the gun, he brought his gun back in pain, sending the pellets into a nearby wall, releasing a farmiliar and unwomanly "Shit!"

"What was that?" Kent asked.

"Some girl we picked up along the way." Cloud replied.

"I'll kill 'ya later." Kent said.

Rufus looked at the two, a large bloodied spot on his sleeve. "I swore I'd get back at you." He took a piece of materia out of his coat and showed it to Kent and Cloud.

"Farmiliar with the spell 'Dark Matter'? How 'bout 'Black hole'?"

Rufus laughed as the materia began to glow.

Before Rufus could grasp the fires from within, a klaxon sounded. "Warning, there is an unidentified passanger on board. Repeat, there is an unidentified passanger on board."

Rufus swore. "That must be Sephiroth. . ."

Cloud looked at Rufus.

"We've got a common goal, here." He said, sheathing his sword. "I'll tell you what. If we get Sephiroth off the ship, will you give us passage to Costa Del Sol?"

Rufus looked at the two. "Deal."

"Good." Cloud said, and extended his hand to the president.

Rufus took Cloud's hand and shook it.

"You back out," Kent said, unloading his gun, "And your brain's gonna learn how to make room for a fifty caliber bullet."

"Alright, alright, just do what you need to do and be done with it."

Heidegger looked at Rufus in disbelief. "You can't be serious, Mr. President."

"I am." Rufus replied. "Release them."

Heidegger shook his head in disbelief and released the cuffs on Aerith and Barret.

"Just know that this is temporary. If we see you anywhere else along the road, we won't hesitate to shoot to kill."

"Same for you, Mr. President." Kent said. "Alright, people, we've got a job to do, let's do it."

Aerith and Barret followed Kent onto the deck where items and materia were dumped on the deck. "Alright, do we have a plan?"

"Not really." Cloud said, stacking the Hardedge on the Buster Sword in his sheath. "So far, the plan is go in, kick everybody's ass, then get the hell out. Not much of a plan, I know."

"Okay, what are we facing?" Kent asked.

"A man with a long sword who's beyond powerful." Tifa said.

"Any materia?" Kent asked.

"Hell if I know." Cloud said. "We should prepare for it, though."

"Okay. . ." Kent said, forming a strategy. "We can use everyone for this." Kent said. "Myself, Cloud, and Tifa are going to be up close, simply because we are the most powerful attackers. Barret, Yuffie, you're going to take opposite sides of the room, taking high ground if you can. That leaves Red and Aerith. Aerith, I want you to stay as out of sight as you can, as you're going to be our healer. Red, I want you to be behind Cloud, Tifa, and I. If one of us needs to drop, which we most likely will, you'll take our place. Until then, support Aerith wherever she decides to hold ground. Got it?"

Everyone nodded.

"Okay. Cloud, Tifa, grab some support materia, whatever you need to get yourself attacking at your prime. Barret, Yuffie, load up on attacking materia. Red, you go half and half, Aerith, you take the restore, revive, and all materias, and take this."

Kent handed Aerith his handgun after shoving the clip into the handle. "Safety off, point shoot." Kent said, indicating the safety. "It'll do more damage than your staff will, and, odds are better than not, if it doesn't kill him, it'll stun him. No matter what, don't be afraid to shoot. It's your life or his."

After the orbs of materia were gone, Kent lead the group down into the cargo hold. "Yuffie, Barret, you're in first. Distract him 'till the rest of us get in."

The two nodded.

Kent kicked the door open, and the two long distance attackers dashed in, flanking the center, firing nonstop. Kent, Tifa, and Cloud followed those two, parking in the middle of the room. Behind them was Red, with Aerith dashing under a catwalk.

But there was nobody there.

Cloud looked about, both the Buster Sword and the Hardedge drawn. He knitted his brow, anylizing something. There was a huge clattering as he dropped both swords and brought his gloved hands up to his ears to try to quell some unheard sounds.

Then, with unleashed anquish and anger, Cloud roared one word.

"_Sephiroth!!!_"

As if responding to Cloud's scream, Sephiroth phased through the floor and found solid footing. The six foot four figure turned to look at the group, his black clad hand reaching down to the huge sword, the Masamune, by instinct. His glowing green eyes locked on Tifa's, then on Kent's, then on Cloud's.

"Who are you?" Sephiroth asked, his voice adding to the tension and suspense in the air.

"Don't you remember?" Cloud bareley whispered. "I'm Cloud, from Nibelheim!"

Sephiroth smiled creuly, then spoke. "Cloud." His feet lifted on the ground, setting him a good three feet over everyone else. Barret took aim, sweat trickling down his face.

"Then, after a long sleep," Sephiroth began, "The time is now."

Before flying through the ceiling, Sephiroth flung a blue rope at Cloud. The rope hit the ground, then began to expand and grow. Before long it was breathing, looking about the room.

As it began to fill the boiler room, it began to look like it was sent right from hell, swinging it's multiple arms, it's glassy eyes locked onto Cloud, then blinked.

The creature grinned, revealing rows upon rows of teeth. Jenova lived.

"New plan!" Kent shouted. "Shoot shit!"

A hail of bullets ripped through what seemed to be it's chest. Barret's gun was spinning furiously, bullets crashing into Jenova sending green splashes of blood onto the floor.

Nearly ignoring the bullets, Jenova snapped at Barret with its tail, sending him sailing into the back wall. From the back of the room, several huge booms erupted from Kent's Desert Eagle, each one less accurate than the last. _Aerith might make a good shot,_ Kent thought. That seemed to stun it, letting Kent get in a couple good swings on the creature. It shrieked in protest, swinging its arms and tail, trying to land a hit on something.

Jenova's tail hit home on Kent, sending him flying into Aerith, sending both of them into the wall.

"Are you okay?" Kent asked, quickly getting off Aerith. Looking behind him, she was knocked out cold, blood coming from a gash in her forehead. Kent looked at Jenova.

It smiled at him.

_She will not live._

Kent heard Jenova speaking to him, through his mind. Did he have Jenova cells in him?

_Of course you do._

Kent scowled at Jenova, then brought his sword to bear. Shoving it tip end into the ground, he stood on the hilt, bringing his combat knife to bear. Leaping from the hilt, he tossed the knife into the air. With precision like a sniper, he kicked the knife at Jenova's head, sending it sailing through its brain and into the bulkhead, buried hilt deep.

Sending another shriek into the room, the sound Jenova made was enough to shatter glass and send rivets into the opposite wall, leaving dents the size of Kent's fist.

Finding one of Barret's twenty inch cymbols under the catwalk, Cloud dashed over and grabbed one, flinging it like a frisbee. With suprising power, the brass disk decapitated the monster, ending the shreik, and the battle. Kent had already picked up Aerith and was carrying her to the deck, where he could treat her in better sunlight.

Cloud grabbed Kent's sword and began to walk out of the room, rapidly filling with salt water and Jenova's green blood.

Finally, he began to walk out of the room, although the shrieking in his head was still there. As he reached the door, the original tentacle began squirming for the door.

Scowling, he shoved the sword into it, severing it. Pulling it out, he felt a great weight lifted off his sholders. Looking at the destroyed room, he took a red materia off the floor, just before it was swallowed by the liquid in the room, and stepped out of the room.

Kent tore a section of his arm off his shirt and tied it around the gash in Aerith' forehead. She began to phase in and out of consiousness. Being hit by Kent at terminal velocity along with being sandwiched between him and a steel door had given her a concussion, which wasn't suprising.

She looked at him, her green eyes dialated. "Did you see that big airship in Junon?"

"Yeah," Kent said, putting a piece of gauze under her new headband.

"Will you take me on that someday?" She asked.

"Of course, hon."

Kent worked, then paused for a second. Aerith had fallen unconsious again. Had he just called her "hon"? What was wrong with him! Christ, he was heading back to his own. . .whatever after this was over, and here he was, calling Aerith hon.

"This isn't right," He muttered, finishing bandaging up Aerith. The sun beating down on him was now extremely hot, and Costa Del Sol was already in sight.

"Is she okay?" Rufus asked, a bandage around his own arm as well.

"She's a little. . .concused, but I think she'll be fine."

"Good." Rufus said. "Listen, I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but, I owe you guys."

Kent looked at Rufus. "Aren't you. . .a bad guy?"

Rufus bit his lower lip, trying to explain his position. "Okay, I want to progress in this world, but I don't want to do it at the expense of my life, or anyone else's life, for that matter."

"Are you trying to say. . ." Kent began.

"I won't tell this to Cloud or Barret, or anyone else, for that matter, because I know you're still indifferent. I'm not against you, but I'm not with you. If you should ever need assistance, equipment, hell, a drink in the middle of nowhere, give me a call."

Kent nodded. "You blasted my phone. . ."

"Oh, don't worry 'bout it." He said, handing him a phone from his pocket. "My number's in it."

"Thanks." Kent said.

"Just know that I would expect the same, somewhat. Consider your plane's retrofitting free of charge, and take these as a peace offering."

Rufus handed Kent a set of keys. "They're for my father's villa in Costa Del Sol."

Cloud came up from the stairs, and looked at the scene in front of him. Rufus put on his stone expression again.

"Just make sure I don't see you on the road," Rufus said, cracking his knuckles, "Or I'll do a lot more than just knock you down."

Kent sneered, playing along. "I highly doubt you could hold your own in a fair fight."

"All's fair in love and war." He said, slamming the door to the bridge.

"What was that about?" Cloud asked.

"Don't ask. Just know that I got a brand new phone from him and the keys to his villa in Costa Del Sol."

"Sweet!" Cloud exclaimed. "How'd you pull that off?"

"Fast hands." Kent said, and smiled. "I think we all deserve some R and R."

"How's your head?" Kent asked Aerith, now totally awake.

"It's better," Aerith said. "I've had better days, of course."

"So have I. It's not every day you get beat up by a giant green monster who's cells are dwelling in your own body."

Aerith raised an eyebrow at him.

"Don't think too hard about it. Anyway, we all need some R and R, and I'm sure Zack's around here. . .somewhere. . . I saw the jet around here."

"We should go down to the beach. You need a tan." Aerith said, smiling at him. Kent grinned back, for the first time noticing he was a full head taller than she was.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right." He replied, still wearing his uniform's overalls.

"I'll go get a swimsuit. You find one, too." She jogged over to one of the street vendors.

"Good as new," Kent murmered, putting his hands behind his head, looking for another vender of swimsuits. The warm water would feel so refreshing. . .

Suddenly, he felt the cold barrel of a .38 caliber special on the small of his back.

"Your GP or your HP." The man said.

"That's so cheesy." Kent spun around. "Nice try, Zack."

Zack laughed. "It was worth it, man. How 'ya been?"

"I've been better," Kent replied as Zack put away his gun. "You know any place that sells swimsuits?"

"Well, there's where that incredibly hot chick in the pink is, there's a place on the beach, and the inn, but they're incredibly expensive."

"Oh, _that_ chick?" Kent asked, pointing at Aerith.

"Yeah, that chick." Zack replied.

"She's with me."

Zack looked at him. "No, she's not."

As if on cue, Aerith held up a green pair of surfer shorts. "Kent, these are perfect for you!"

Kent smugly grinned. "I'll be right back."

"I will forever hate you for this!" Zack shouted.

"I can live with that." Kent replied, then stepped into the fray of people around the shop.

"I'm suprised he didn't recognize me." Aerith said.

"Same here." Kent replied. "I used to have a pair of shorts just like that. How much are they?"

"Three hundred gil." Aerith replied.

Kent reached into his pocket and pulled out three quarters. The shopkeeper took the coins, and shooed the two away. Aerith had bought a nice one piece swimming suit for herself.

Zack gawked at Kent and Aerith, dumbstruck. "How the. . .what in. . .the hell. . ."

"Wierd, huh?" Cloud said.

"You'd better believe it." Zack replied. He remembered Cloud from climbing the wire. "I mean, when did Kent and Aerith hook up?"

"Probably on the road." Cloud said, inspecting the chipped edge of the Buster Sword. "I can tell they like eachother."

"Don't you like, oh. . .Tifa, was it?"

"Sorta." Cloud replied, giving up on the sword. It was chipped and there wasn't a damned thing he could do about it. "I dunno, it's something about Aerith that I just can't get over."

"Maybe you'll get over it." Zack said, slapping Cloud on the back. "Then again, maybe you won't. Just remember that Kent doesn't have anyone back home. You've always got Tifa as a backup."

Cloud nodded as Zack walked towards the inn. Looking about, Cloud sighed. "I could use a good swim. . ."

Although never a remarkable swimmer, Kent always loved the water; he loved to swim, dive, pretty much anything that had to do with it. This was proven as the first thing he did was walk out into the water and let one of the waves sweep him off his feet. Aerith, however, layed out a towel, took Kent's glasses - with their magnetic sunglass lenses, of course - and decided to work on getting a tan. She'd always been natrually pale for some reason, and living in the slums for thirteen years didn't help, either.

Flourecent lighting just doesn't allow for much tanning. There was a bit of sunlight that came through in the church, but that was more or less specific to the flowers, and there was no way she'd get caught dead in a swimsuit anywhere in the slums, the drunkards would have at her, no holds barred.

She smiled, one half of her glad she'd gotten out of Midgar and away from her mom. Sure, she loved her a great deal, but, every once in a while, you just need to get away from your parents. The other half of her, though, made her sad she'd left her home. She missed her mom, and then, there were the flowers, and. . .

She almost burst out laughing as the most random thought burst through her mind like a bomb.

"I wonder of Barret and Mom would get married?" She thought aloud.

The immideate laughter of Tifa, Cloud, and herself rang true and clear over the beach, somewhat startling Aerith.

"Barret and Elmyra," Cloud mused, wiping tears of laughter off his cheek, "What a pair, with their two perfect kids, Aerith and Marlene. . ."

That caused Tifa and Cloud to start laughing once again.

"What's so funny about that?" Aerith asked, looking at the two childhood friends as they rolled on the sand in laughter.

"It's the mental image that cracks me up," Tifa said between gasps.

Cloud finally managed to turn his booming laughter into something more manageable: choked giggles. "Oh, thanks, Aerith. I haven't had a laugh like that in a long time."

"I'm glad you could have a laugh at my expense," Aerith said, mock anger in her voice. Underneath Kent's sunglasses, her tears of laughter trickled down her face. Over Cloud's booming laughter, her hysterical laughter didn't have a chance to be heard.

"Oh, it's okay," Cloud said.

Aerith looked at Cloud, who'd shed his SOLDIER uniform in exchange for a pair of swimming trunks. Of course, he had awful tan lines from always having his gloves on, the one sholder pad, and one bangle.

"You've got some terrible. . ."

"Terrible tan lines, I know." Cloud said. "Hey, what's Kent doing?"

Aerith was about to answer before Kent was deposited on the sand before them by an abnormally large wave, a surfboard strapped to his ankle.

Cloud looked over Kent, who was a little dazed after hitting the ground like a rock. "How's it going?"

"I think I prefer dancing about a MiG-29 to surfing," He murmered, sprawled about on the sand like a rag doll. "Chi-rist."

"Hey, why don't you try it, Cloud?" Aerith asked, sarcasm dripping off her voice. "Your sword's big enough."

Kent got a chuckle out of that. "Taking my example with the chocobo, eh?" His hip reminded him of his untimely and painful deposit onto the ground at the hands of the oversized bird.

"Want a hand?" Cloud asked, extending his hand towards his fallen comrade.

"Sure," Kent said, taking Cloud's hand. Pulling Kent up was almost nothing to the ex-SOLDIER, even though Kent weighed the upper half of two hundred pounds.

"Gonna hit the waves one more time?" Tifa asked. "C'mon, show us how it's done!"

Kent shook the cobwebs out, and grabbed the surfboard. "Oh, fine."

He ran out into the waves, his back to the group.

"That wasn't very nice," Aerith said.

"I know." Tifa replied. "We got a laugh at your expense, now we need another at his." She said, as a wave picked Kent up, surfboard and all, and slammed him into the beach once more.

"That's good!" Tifa shouted.

"I wanna hurt you." Kent mumbled into the sand. "I wanna hurt you sooooo bad. . ."

Kent had moved to the bar after he'd ungracefully met the beach, leaving Cloud and Tifa on the beach. Aerith had decided she'd tanned enough and decided to take in the sights, sounds - and smells - of Costa Del Sol.

Rough translation - she joined Kent at the bar.

She spotted him in a bar stool, a glass in hand.

"Hi, Kent." She cheerfully said.

"Oh. Hey, Aerith." Kent replied, turning to Aerith.

"Watcha drinking?" She asked.

"Margartia." Kent said. "A virgin margarita, of course. I never could stand the taste of alchohol."

"You have no idea how relieving that is," Aerith said, a weight obviously lifted off her sholders. "I thought you were in here getting smashed."

"You don't have to worry about that." Kent said, downing the rest of his drink, "I think I got drunk once during a party in college. And that was because someone spiked the drinks. I'm still a little fuzzy about how they spiked Coke in cans. . ."

Aerith giggled. "You seen Barret lately?"

Kent pointed out the window at the waves. Sure enough, Barret had taken up surfing - but he was actually good at it.

"I've been shown up." Kent said.

"Hey, you know Cloud saw Hojo down on the beach?" Aerith said.

"Actually, no. That's new news." Kent said, his demeanor changing serious. "Are we about ready to head out?"

"Pretty close." Cloud said, walking into the bar. "C'mon, we're gonna do some planning. Tell Zack to come along, too."

Kent nodded, and got up.

Cloud threw a map down on the commandeered billiards table. "Alright. Hojo said that Sephiroth is going west. The only reason he'd go west is to get to Nibelheim. But, to get to Nibelheim, we've first gotta go over Mount Corel, over the river, then over _another_ river, then through Cosmo Canyon."

"So, what's the plan?" Zack asked.

"We're gonna go three's, three's, and two's. Kent, you're good on the ground, so you stay with us. Zack, is there anyone in particular you'd like to fly with?"

"As long as it's not Yuffie, I'm good."

"Okay, then. Uhh. . .why don't you take Red XIII, shoot straight for Cosmo Canyon."

The two nodded.

"As for ground. . .let's go myself, Barret, and Yuffie. Kent, you take Aerith and Tifa."

The rest of the group nodded.

"Alright. Do whatever it is you still have left to do today, we'll sleep here tonight, then head out."

_"Dragon two, fox one!" Kent shouted, firing a missile at a MiG-29. The sidewinder climbed away towards the enemy fighter, struggling for a lock. The sidewinder had an eighty-five percent chance of splashing an enemy fighter, but this guy was fast. He'd dodged every single missile he'd fired yet, leaving just one, the Ammram in the bomb bay of his F-22._

_"I've got a lock!" His backseater, Aerith shouted._

_"I hear it!" Kent shouted, pulling the trigger. The plane jolted as the bomb bay doors opened and the Ammram was dropped out of the bay. Five feet under the fighter, it ignited, chasing the MiG-29 through the sky._

_"C'mon, c'mon. . ." Kent muttered as the missle came closer and closer to the MiG. The missile exploded right between the MiG's vertical stabilizers, blowing them to shreds. Shrapnel shot into the engines, shredding feul lines and throwing the perfectly balanced super powerful fans off balance. All this happened in a split second, sending the fighter towards the ocean. _

_"Splash one." Kent said, sighing. _

_"Oh my. . ." Aerith began. "I'm reading twenty MiG-29's, and an additional fifteen SU-35's!"_

_Kent's eyes bugged out. "Who's left in dragon squad!?" _

_"We're all that's left." Aerith grimly said._

_Kent evilly grinned. "Then let's get low."_

_Kent pushed the stick down, sending them rocketing towards the ocean. At a scant fifty meters from the ground, he pulled up, staying level. With a quick nudge of the stick, the fighter edged close enough to the water that the jet stream actually put a divet in the water. Ejecting at this altitude would be suicide. _

_"Kent, I'm reading another five Shinra S-82's!" Aerith shouted._

_"Good god." Kent said. "Look at our feul."_

_Aerith gasped. "One thousand pounds!"_

_"Looks like this is it." Kent said. "Just so you know, it's been a pleasure to fly with you."_

_"You, too."_

_Kent sighed, then grinned. "Alright, time to show you people what the G Man's known for. . ."_

_Kent yanked back on the stick, shoving both of them back into their seats with six times the force of normal gravity. From behind him, he heard the sound of fourty twenty millimeter machine guns firing at the one fighter. He selected afterburners and pointed the plane straight up, narrowly avoiding getting shredded by the bullets coming his way. _

_"Three of the MiG's have tone!" Aerith nearly screamed._

_"Goddamnit!" Kent shouted, pulling back on the stick. They were now flying towards the enemy at nearly mach one and upside down at under five thousand feet. _

_"Are you crazy!?" Aerith screamed._

_"Yes!" Kent replied, pulling back and right on the stick. The plane preformed a tight turn then rocketed skyward once more._

_"Flameout on engine one!" Aerith screamed. "Flameout on engine two!"_

_The plane slowly lost it's momentum and began to lean to the left. _

_"Aerith, I never told you this, but. . .I love you."_

_"I love you, too." Aerith replied._

_Suddenly, there was silence. The buzzing sound of fourty fighters having lock on their fighter was gone, the screaming of the jet engines, everything gone._

_It was just Kent and Aerith, standing on a small pedestal. Aerith was locked in prayer, Kent before her, his hands on the handle of his sword._

_She looked up at him, and smiled. The silence was broken by the sound of fabric fluttering. In a terrifying moment, the Masamune blossomed forth from Aerith's stomach. Behind her stood Sephiroth, his green eyes glowing, a smile gracing his lips. Putting his combat boot on Aerith's back, he pulled the sword out of her back, pausing only to wipe her blood off the blade._

_Before she even had a chance to hit the ground, Kent caught her and looked into her eyes. _

_"Don't cry." She whispered, looking into his eyes. "I don't want to die seeing you cry. . ."_

_Kent pulled his lips into a smile, tears brimming over his eyes. _

_Aerith smiled. "Thank you. . ."_

_And, in that instant, Aerith Gainsborough died in Kent's hands._

_"How touching. . ." Sephiroth coldly began. _

_Kent didn't reply. He was still shocked beyond words._

_"What? No snappy comeback, no insults, no threats?"_

_Still, no reply._

_"Fine, then." Sephiroth said, and brought the Masamune above his head, ready to slice Kent in two. He brought the monstrous sword down, square with Kent's spine. But, something happened._

_The Masamune hit a barrier around Kent, stopping the blade from slicing him in half. _

_Finally, Kent found words._

"No!" Kent yelled, sitting bolt upright. Quickly realizing where he was, he sighed and wiped the cold sweat off his forehead. There was no way he'd get back to sleep.

Kent had decided to take advantage of the villa, which had three bedrooms, two beds in each. Kent and Aerith shared one room, Cloud and Tifa in another one, Barret and Yuffie in another. Red and Zack had decided to head to Cosmo Canyon early.

Kent looked at his watch. Four thirty. Not even sunrise yet. Kent let out a slow sigh, put on a new pair of sweatpants, and stepped outside the villa. Looking at the ocean, he leaned agains the railing, looking at the horizon. It was already beginning to turn a shade of purple, casting it's glow on the clouds, lazily rolling across the sky to the north.

"Bad dream?"

Kent looked behind him to see Aerith in one of his oversized shirts, her hair down. It cascaded down her back almost to her knees, but not quite.

"Yeah." Kent said, looking across the ocean again.

"What about?" Aerith asked.

Kent sighed. "I dreamed that I was back in the military, back where I'm from, but, for some reason, you were my back seater. Then, somehow, we ended up somewhere else. . .and I watched Sephiroth. . .kill you."

'That's. . .awful." She whispered.

"I know." Kent replied. He sighed. "Aerith, I want you to know something."

"Yes?" She asked.

"I don't have anyone back home for me. My parents died, my brother's doing lord knows what. All I have is my job, and I don't know how long that's gonna last. I don't have a girlfriend, and I'm not married.

"I guess what I'm trying to say, Aerith, is that. . .I love you."

Aerith looked up at Kent. She smiled at him, and took his hand.

"Kent. . .I know how you feel. My real parents were killed when I was still very young, so I don't know them very well. All I have is mom back in Midgar. My boyfriend was killed on a mission in SOLDIER. And on top of that, I'm the only ancient left in the world."

She choked back tears, trying to keep some form of composure. "I'm in a world where I'm literally alone. . ."

She buried her face in his chest, her composure gone. He wrapped his arms around her.

"You're not alone." Kent said. "I'm in a world where I don't belong, fighting for a cause I don't understand. Aerith, I know how you feel. But I'm honestly scared. Aerith, I'm afraid I'm going to loose you, too."

Aerith looked up at Kent. "As long as you're with me, you won't loose me." She sniffed, and took a step back. "Kent, I haven't said anything yet, but, now that you've said it, I might as well say it, too.

"First, you're like my old boyfriend. Your attitude, your outlook on lots of things, how you look. But, you're different. I can't quite put my finger on it, but. . . you're just. . .different from him."

Kent smiled.

"But. . ." Aerith continued, "I know that you're not him. But, I think the thing I like most about you is that you don't hide anything about yourself. You're true to who you are, and I like that about you. And, I can tell you're extremely dedicated in whatever you do, in every aspect of your life. Kent. . ."

Their eyes locked for a second. "I love you, too."

They turned to look across the horizon, at the sun that just began to rise.

"If I had a million dollars. . ." Kent began to muse, "I'd buy you a car. . .a nice, reliant automobile. . ."

"A nice, reliant automobile," Kent mused. "What I wouldn't give for one right about now.

"Tired already?" Tifa asked.

"Oh, shut up." Kent replied. About three hours before, Aerith had stumbled and sprained her ankle. Rather than wait for help, Kent wrapped her ankle and opted to _carry_ her to Corel.

Which was still twenty five miles away.

"Kent, I'll be fine," Aerith began.

"You're not gonna be fine. When I sprained my ankle, I had to stay off it for a good three days, and it still hurt. Trust me, this is the best thing for you."

Aerith sighed. "Alright. . ."

"Y'know, it's times like this I wish I had the upper hand with the military again." Kent began. Aerith was essentially riding piggy back on Kent, and was carrying his sword and pack, so he wouldn't shred his dress, or her, for that matter. "I could just charter a KC-135, get us to wherever it is we need to go PDQ."

Tifa sighed. "I know how you feel."

Thunder cracked not too far off. In the valley that they were in, they'd get rained on for sure. "Especially right now. . ."

"Yeah. . .I wouldn't mind that car right about now," Aerith began, "This dress is see-through when it gets wet."

"Which makes it a good thing you're on my back where I can't see you." Kent grumbled, and trudged on.

"Are you suuuuure?" Aerith asked. "I'll bet you'd die to get a chance to see me like that. . ."

"Aerith, if you're trying to seduce me, it's not working." Kent said.

"I'm sorry." She said. "I just had to see your face when I said that."

"You didn't miss much." Kent said. "I'm not looking forward to shaving once we hit Corel. I'm willing to bet it'll take me at least a half hour to do it this time around. . ."

"Trust me, you have no room to talk." Aerith said. "You have no idea how hard it is to shave your legs."

"Actually, thanks to a bunch of my drum corps buddies, I _do_."

Aerith began to giggle uncontrollably.

"We watched Jarrett shave his legs."

"Oh." Tifa replied.

With another clap of thunder, it began to rain on the three travellers.

"Oh, just lovely."

Kent groaned. This really, really sucked. It was one in the morning, it was raining, and on top of that, the tent that they had bought was only big enough for Tifa and Aerith.

"Four man tent my ass." Kent said. He was soaked from head to toe with rain, and it looked like it was going to keep going for a good three days. Suprise, suprise, it was going to be about three days until they hit the Corel Mountans. And, better yet, the chances of him getting any sleep out here, with out getting attacked by any of the monsters that prowled the plains, or dieing of hypothermia, or drowning in rain water, were about ziltch point shit.

"Could this get any worse?" Kent asked.

He was answered by thunder clapping once more, illuminating a creature coming his way. He stood up, drew his sword, and got into his offensive position. With a growl and a shout, Kent leapt for the figure, hoping to suprise it.

Sure enough, he did. The thing let out a yelp as Kent landed atop it, and brought the point of his sword out, pointing at the humanoid creature's neck. Hold on a minute. . .

"Dammit, Kent," Cloud began, looking up at Kent, "What the hell was that for?"

"Sorry. I thought you were here to _kill us all_." Kent said.

"Sorry to dissapoint you." Cloud said, crawling out from under Kent. "Yuffie and Barret are on their way."

"Weren't you going around the mountains?" Kent asked.

"Unless we had a boat, we'd be out of luck." Cloud replied, unsheathing the Buster Sword and thrusting it into the ground. "The river's too deep."

"I see." Kent said. "So, we've all gotta go through Mount Corel, right?"

"Right." Cloud said. "I couldn't help but notice that only Aerith and Tifa are in that tent. . ."

"There's no way I'd fit in there." Kent said.

"Yeah. . .I accidentally took one too many."

Kent looked needles at Cloud. "I should kill you where you stand."

Cloud watched over the camp while Kent slept. The rain showed no signs of letting up for a while, which meant the travel over the bridge would be extremely dangerous. He was silently wishing they would have highjacked the airship at Junon. . .that would make travel so much easier. Then again, so would a car, hell, even the motorcycle would be nice to have. He could take one other person with him, and that would end up being, probably Aerith.

_Kent doens't have anyone back home. . ._

That crept into his consience. Besides that, Zack eerily reminded him of someone. . . he couldn't quite put his finger on it. . .

Lightning struck, illuminating Barret and Yuffie walking through the ravine towards them. The next day was going to be a gloomy day indeed. . .

"It's too gloomy. . ." Aerith said, the weather reflecting her mood.

"I agree," Kent replied, carrying Aerith on his back.

Cloud looked over at the two. They seemed so natural around eachother. . .maybe they were made for eachother? Cloud tried to push the thought out of his head. After this was done with, Kent said he was headed home, leaving Aerith to himself.

God, he seemed heartless at the moment. Maybe it was the weather. . .or, maybe, something more. . .

"You okay, Cloud?" Tifa asked. "You seem really spacy today."

"I'm fine." He said. "Just. . .a little distracted. . ."

Tifa glared at Cloud. "Cloud, are you trying to get a look at Aerith?"

"What!?" Cloud asked, a little louder than he'd intended. "Of course not!"

Although, he had to admit, at the right angle, he could see through her dress. . .

_Get your mind outta the gutter!_ Cloud shouted to himself. _Have you no shame?_

Kent sighed. "Anybody know any good songs?"

The crowd was silent. The weather was definitely being a damper on everyone's mood today, even Aerith's. That wasn't good."

"You know anything?" Aerith asked.

"Actually, I do. I've had it stuck in my head since I got here. It's a cool little song called 'If I had a million dollars' by the Barenaked Ladies."

Tifa and Aerith looked at him.

"The group is made up of five guys. . ."

"Ahh."

"And it's really easy, too. Basicially, every other line is 'if I had a million dollars', then I repeat it. Then, you say the objects in order. Let's see. . .there's I would buy you a house, I'd buy you furniture for your house, I'd buy you a K-car, then it goes into the chorus, which is basicially,"

Kent cleared his throat. "'If I had a million dollars', then I'd sing something back. So, the whole chorus goes, 'If I had a million dollars, I'd build a tree fort in our yard, if I had a million dollars, you could help, it wouldn't be that hard, if I had a million dollars, maybe we could put a little tiny fridge in there somewhere'. Get it?"

"Kinda. . ." Aerith said.

"Let's give it a shot." Kent said.

"If I had a million dollars," Aerith sang.

"If I had a million dollars," Kent responded.

"I'd buy you a house,"

"I would buy you a house."

"If I had a million dollars,"

"If I had a million dollars,"

"I'd buy you furniture for your house,"

"Maybe a nice chesterfield, or an ottoman."

"If I had a million dollars,"

"If I had a million dollars,"

"I'd buy you a K-car,"

"A nice, reliant automobile."

"If I had a million dollars,"

"I'd buy your love," Kent sang, somewhat catching Aerith off guard. "Chorus!"

"If I had a million dollars," Aerith sang, being joined by Tifa this time.

"I'd build a tree fort in our yard," Kent responded.

"If I had a million dollars," Cloud chimed in this time.

"You could help, it wouldn't be that hard,"

"If I had a million dollars," Yuffie joined, taken by the song.

"Maybe we could put a little tiny fridge in there, somewhere. . ."

"Wha'd you do with a 'fridge in a tree fort?" Barret asked.

"Keep going, it goes with the song." Kent replied.

"But still, wha'd you do with a 'fridge in a tree fort?"

"Who knows? Maybe we'd. . .y'know, open it. . .I'd be cool. . ."

Barret laughed.

"The next set is fur coat, exotic pet, John Merrick's remains. Hit it!"

"If I had a million dollars," Everyone sang, including Barret.

"If I had a million dollars," Kent responded.

"I'd buy you a fur coat,"

"But not a real fur coat, that's creul."

"If I had a million dollars,"

"If I had a million dollars,"

I'd buy you an exotic pet,"

"Like a llama. . .or an emu."

"If I had a million dollars,"

"If I had a million dolalrs,"

"I'd buy you John Merrick's remains,"

"Ooh, all them crazy elephant bones,"

"If I had a million dollars,"

"I'd buy your love," Everyone sang. The day wasn't looking so gloomy anymore.

"If I had a million dollars,"

"We wouldn't have to walk to the store,"

"If I had a million dollars,"

"We'd take a limousine 'cause it costs more,"

"If I had a million dollars,"

"We wouldn't have to eat Kraft dinners," Kent finished.

"But we would, right?" Aerith asked.

"Of course, we'd just eat more." Kent said, smiling. "And buy really expensive catsup's with it."

"Catsup's. . .like mustard. . .dejon catsup!" Aerith said, giggling.

"Oh, yeah!" Kent said. "Doesn't that sound good? Next set is green dress, some art, and monkey."

"If I had a million dollars," Everyone started,

"If I had a million dollars," Kent responded,

"I'd buy you a green dress,"

"But not a real green dress, that's creul."

Aerith dropped out and started laughing.

"If I had a million dollars,"

"If I had a million dollars,"

"I'd buy you some art."

"A Picasso. . .or a Garfunkel."

That one dropped Tifa.

"If I had a million dollars,"

"If I had a million dollars,"

"I'd buy you a monkey,"

"Haven't you always wanted a mon-_key_?" Kent said, taking the last part of it up an octave.

"If I had a million dollars,"

"I'd buy your love,"

Kent could feel Aerith' laughter through her stomach. Man, she was laughing hard.

"If I had a million dollars,"

"If I had a million dollars,"

"If I had a million dollars,"

"If I had a million dollars,"

"If I had a million doll-ll-ers,"

"I'd be rich."

Almost instantaneously, the gloom lifted off the group. Aerith was still laughing, Cloud had to resort to picking up Tifa, and Barret and Yuffie went about their business. . .whatever it was.

"Aerith, are you gonna be okay?" Kent asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," She said, finally calming down. "Not a real green dress. . ."

"It would have to be chartreuse." Kent said, smiling. "How's that sword feeling?"

"Not as heavy as it was five minutes ago." Aerith replied.

"Yeah. BNL songs tend to do that to people."

"BNL?" Aerith asked.

"Barenaked Ladies."

"Ahh." Aerith responded.

"Hey, thanks, Kent." Cloud said. "I don't think we coulda gone through this day without that little boost in morale."

"Anyime, Cloud." Kent said. "Anytime."

The group lounged on the grass just outside of the ravine, watching as the clouds rolled on their way, past them. The sun was barely peeking out over the clouds, casting it's red, dusky glow upon the angry grey clouds.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Kent asked to nobody in particular.

"Yeah," Aerith replied, her hands behind her head. "It's nice to see the sun for a change."

Kent sighed. "Y'know what one thing everyone on this planet has in common?"

Everyone looked at him, at a loss.

"The sky." Kent said. "It's always there, and won't stop being there, 'till the world ends."

Aerith looked over at Kent, his brown eyes illuminating his face in the dimming light of the day. "Your eyes are really bright."

Kent chuckled. "Until I got the mako infusion, my eyes were almost jet black. You'd have to get right into my face to see the color in them."

"I suppose," Aerith began. "I don't remember what you looked like before you got the infusion. I'd just assumed you had blue eyes under your sunglasses. Like my old boyfriend, Cloud, even Reno."

"Reno?" Kent asked. "With the black eye that guy had when I saw him, I'd assume he's gonna be pretty pissed the next time you guys meet up."

"Probably." Cloud said. "I'm suprised Rufus didn't have the Turks on the ship."

"Y'know," Kent began, "Maybe the Shinra aren't all bad."

"The Shinra?" Not bad?" Barret yelled, breaking the serenity of the moment into a million pieces. "Of _course_ they're bad! They kidnapped Aerith, tried to kill us, and they're _still_ suckin' the life outta the planet!"

"Maybe, but consider this." Kent cooly began, "The Shinra building. What kept the soldiers from barging in and killing us all, hmm? How 'bout the ship? They coulda killed us right there, but something stopped 'em."

"You know damn well that the Shinra want Aerith, and that's why they didn't kill 'er!"

"And that would have stopped them from killing the rest of us?" Kent asked, now getting a little bit angry. "There's a reason they didn't kill you on the pillar, there's a reason they didn't kill you in the Shinra building, there's a reason they didn't kill you on the ship, and there's a reason that the helicopter that's been tailing us hasn't set down and dropped the SOLDIER's down on top of us."

Cloud looked at the two. Barret was doing his best to supress the urge to not fill Kent full of bullets, and Kent kept his hand instinctively on the handle of his fifty caliber Desert Eagle.

"You workin' for the Shinra?" Barret asked, bringing his multi-barreled gun to bear. "I think ya' are. . ."

"You really want to shoot me?" Kent asked, unclasping the strap holding his gun in.

"If you're working for the Shinra, I'd serve you right!" Barret's arm twitched, signaling his gun loading.

Kent brought his gun up to face Barret.

Before anything else happened, in a flash of pink and red, Aerith put herself between the two quarreling men, a firm look on her face. "Stop this!"

Kent gnashed his teeth, but refused to put his gun back in his holster. He leapt and jumped off Barret's sholder, suprising Barret, Aerith. . .

And the six Shinra soldiers that were behind them. While still in mid air, Kent popped off four shots, felling three of the rifle toting soldiers. The fourth bullet found its way into a nearby tree.

Barret quickly spun around and fired a crossfire of bullets, making the soldiers dive for the ground. Kent winced as the soldiers began firing, several of the bullets hitting way too close for his comfort.

_I'm a fighter pilot, not a goddamned marine!_ Kent thought, firing several more bullets, only wounding a soldier. He swore as he heard only a click. He'd run out of bullets, and he didn't know when or where he'd find the expensive fifty caliber bullets again.

Kent winced as a hot wave of energy passed by his left arm and impacted the first solider, who didn't even have a chance to scream. The other two were hit by two smaller beams that diffused off the first one.

Kent looked back to see Cloud, Buster Sword drawn, steam curling off the hot blade. Aerith stood next to him, a wide grin on her face.

Kent looked at Cloud with a look of amazement on his face. "Could you have done that. . .uhh. . ._before_ I used a hundred and fifty dollars worth of bullets?"

Zack sat by the burning fire in the middle of Cosmo Canyon known only as the Cosmo Candle, the red creature sitting next to him. "Bonfires sure are funny. They dig up memories you thought you buried a long time ago. Like Casey. . ."

Red simply looked into the fire with his one good eye. "Had it not been for my mother, this place would have been destroyed. . .but my cowardly father. . ."The odd man dressed in purple floated down to where the two were sitting, watching the flame. Zack remembered him as Bugenhagen. "Is that what you truly think of your father?"

Zack cringed. "Here we go. . ."

"Come, Nanaki. I have something I wish to show you. Zack, will you come along?"

"Yeah, yeah. . ."

Zack got up and began walking after Buganhagen and Red. Stopping by the weapons shop, he invested in a decent amount of bullets, and continued to follow Red.

"Behind this door," Buganhagen began, "Is the cave of the Gi. Come, Nanaki."

Buganhagen opened the reinforced steel door and led Red and Zack through it. The drop was a decent fifty feet down, but was made significant easier with a ladder.

Shrugging, Zack grabbed on and slid down the ladder. Finding ground, he looked about the cave. It was lined with a sickening green color, and there were sounds from deeper in the cave that made him worry a bit about his safety. . .and the likelyhood of him coming out in one piece.

"Is this safe?" Zack asked.

Buganhagen laughed as Red finally arrived at the bottom. Zack sighed, and pulled the action back on his handgun. Things were about to get ugly, but he wouldn't be caught unawares.

"Let's go." Buganhagen said, leading the two warriors into the caves. "It was here the Gi tribe made their last stand. Their spirits still reside in this cave. . ."

Zack squinted. He saw something. . . Bringing his gun to bear, he fired three rounds. Two hit the walls, but the third one found it's home in something transparent, stopping whatever was making advances upon them.

A thundering voice resounded through the cave. "You do not belong. . ."

Zack looked back at Buganhagen.

"Let's be swift." He said, moving at a steady pace through the cavern.

Zack followed behind the odd man, followed then by Red. "The Gi shaman summoned up the very power of the earth to stop the one warrior, but was no match for him."

Red looked at Buganhagen. "Was. . .that warrior."

"Come, Nanaki. We have much ground to cover and not much time."

They continued through the cave, the spirits watching wearily over them. They'd seen what Zack had done to one of their kin; they weren't invincible. Finally, they reached the back of the cavern, the back wall curled over itself in a grotesque manner.

"This is it." Buganhagen said. "The last battlefield of the Gi."

From every last corner of the room came a sort of growl. From the center of the room, the floor split, revealing a pool of bubbling magma. From the pool rose a skeleton adorned with a cloak and a head dress, undoubtedly this was the ghost of the Gi Shaman.

This was going to be one hell of a fight. Zack grinned, and took aim with his gun. Firing three rounds, he watched in amazement as the bullets, before they hit the shaman, melted into slag and did absolutely nothing.

"Oh, shit."

"I hope Zack's having more fun." Kent said, sitting in the hot, stuffy rail car. Aerith sat beside him, and Barret sat beside her. On the other side of the car was everyone else, countering Barret's weight.

"Oh, I'm sure we'll have plenty of fun." Aerith said. Barret just grumbled. Going through his hometown of North Corel, where he was blamed for the destruction had obviously lowered his morale.

Kent smiled at her, and stretched out. They'd already been on the train for two hours, and the clock told them there was still another three hours on the cart. The result was a very testy crew, and they were getting a little fed up of Kent and Aerith being so damned cheery.

"I wonder how the others are doing. . ." Kent mused.

"You mean Zack and Red?" Aerith asked.

"Naa, the rest of the guys on my carrier. . .Matt, Nick. . ."

"I'm sure they're fine." Aerith said, putting her hand over his.

"Speaking of old friends, I wonder how Eric's doing. . ."

"Eric?" Aerith asked.

Kent laughed a little bit. "Eric and I are pretty good friends; we met my freshman year of high school. The summer of my junior year, we went on a ski retreat, and I learned that he had a sister that was only a year younger than myself.

"Well, I learned she was related to him just a touch too late. I kinda liked her for a good year and a half, and I ended up telling Eric about it about two weeks after the retreat. Oh, you shoulda seen the look on his face. Shit, you shoulda seen the look on my face. I'm sure I turned a couple different shades of red."

Aerith giggled.

"Luckily, it never got beyond a friendship, and, because of that, Eric and myself became better friends because of it." Kent nervously laughed. "I think."

The rest of the group looked at him.

"Uhh. . .yeah. . .I'm gonna take a nap."

_Baboom_

Kent's eyes shot open to the sounds of an explosion lighting up the sky. Franticially, he stood up, almost knocking Aerith off the bench, and began looking around.

Looking around the cart, he saw that he actually wasn't the epicenter of activity, rather the large, golden beanstalk with seven saucers was, explosions going off all around it, lights flashing everywhere. . .it was a sight to behold.

It took Kent a second to realize the thing wasn't under attack. Rather, it was firing off fireworks. This theory was proven as a mortar shell exploded barely off to the right of the cart, rattling the windows.

Aerith laughed in excitement, watching as the fireworks fired off and the lights around the tops of the saucers danced and flickered. The cart began to lurch as the car began to come to a stop towards the station.

Kent shook off the last shreds of sleep as the car entered a dark tunnel leading towards the entry station.

"This is amazing!" Aerith said.

"No kidding." Kent replied, his eyes locked on the exit of the tunnel that would ultimately lead them to the main station of the Gold Saucer Theme Park. The door opened, signaling to the group this was the time to get off. Aerith grabbed Kent's arm and dragged him rather forcibly through the threshold onto the platform floor. Aerith might have been small, but she had quite a bit of power hidden in that small form. Without protest, she drug him into the main station, leading to the major areas of the park, called squares.

"Odd that they're saucers," Kent muttered under his breath. He went to follow Aerith before he was stopped by an official.

"Hey, admission is 3,000 gil."

Kent looked at the small woman asking for admission. He sighed, and dug around in his wallet. All he had left was a twenty, along with three fifty gil bills. He sighed and handed her the twenty. "A one is worth four hundred gil."

He'd only need seven dollars and fifty cents, but he'd be getting a lot of gil back.

The woman sighed, and ducked under the desk. She got back up and handed him a 2,000 gil bill, three hundred gil bills, and another fifty gil piece. Kent shrugged, and took it, shoving it into his wallet. Shoving his wallet into his back pocket, he joined the rest of the group in the main station.

The Gold Saucer was too big to traverse by foot, so the park's transportation relied on vacuum powered tubes to pull park goers to the place they wanted to go. It was quite an amazing system, Kent thought.

"C'mon, Kent, let's have some fun!"

Kent looked over at Barret, a bit of concern in his eyes. "I'm not sure if that's a good idea. . ."

She looked at Kent, then walked over to Barret. She stood up on her toes and whipered something into his ear.

"Then _go _play!" Barret nearly exploded. "Don't forget we're after Sephiroth!"

Aerith nodded, then walked over to Kent. "C'mon, let's go."

She jumped down the tube leading to the Wonder Square, followed by Kent.

"Come one, come all!" Shouted the cat atop the large, stuffed white bear called mog. "Gather 'round and witness as I, Cait Sith, demonstrate the phychic powers of this very mog you see before you!"

"Mog!" The huge mog shouted, nearly blowing Cait Sith off his tiny feet.

"Behold as he performs his 'future predictions' dance!"

The mog shuffled it's feet and flailed it's arms about wildly, almost knocking more than a few people flat. The mog stopped and opened it's mouth and pulled a paper slip off it's tounge and gave it to Cait Sith.

"Is there a Kent here?"

As he said that, Kent flew out of the tube and ungracefully onto the floor. "Ow. . ."

Aerith landed next to him with little more grace.

"Hey, you!" Cait Sith shouted. "You Kent?"

"Yeah, that's my name," Kent said, standing up with Aerith's help.

Cait Sith looked at the piece of paper, then at Kent, then at the paper again. "You've been cheating on your wife! You bastard! You should burn in he. . ."

Aerith looked at Kent with disdain. "I'm not married. I'm twenty-three."

The cat looked at him. "Oh. Musta been the other side. . ." He turned the paper around and read the opposite side. "Your lucky number is fourty-two, and your missing left sock will turn up soon!"

Kent glared at the cat. "C'mon, Aerith. Let's go."

"No!" Cait Sith shouted, jumping from the mog onto Kent's head. "Give me one more chance!"

Aerith laughed as Kent looked at the inverted cat's face. "Alright, cat." Kent said, plucking the cat off his hair. "You've got one more shot."

The cat smiled and ran up to his mog once more. The mog opened his mouth, letting the cat dig through the mog's mouth. Pulling out a half eaten candy bar, three pieces of orange materia, a plastic toy sword and a pair of sandals, the mog emerged with a piece of paper.

"What you persue will be yours, but you will loose something dear." The cat said.

That struck a chord with Kent. "But you will loose something dear. . ." he murmered.

"That's wierd. I've never gotten something like _that_ before."

Kent shook his head and began to follow Aerith to the arcade section that was just through a hall. He was stopped by the large Mog, the cat atop it's head.

"Mog!" The mog said and wrapped Kent in a huge hug.

"I don't know if I should laugh or be really disturbed. . ." Kent said.

"Well, then, shall we be off?" Cait Sith asked. "As a fortune teller, I can't help but wonder about that fortune, so, naturally, I have to follow you 'till I find out."

"Oh, no." Kent began. "Oh, hell no."

Cait Sith was about to come back with a rebuddle before several gunshots came through the tube that lead to the battle square.

"Alright, cat." Kent said. "You've got a deal." He drew his sword and jumped down the tube. He emerged into the battle square to see a Shinra soldier clutching his side, bleeding profusely.

"Man. . .with a gun arm. . ." The soldier muttered, before falling onto the floor in a puddle of his own blood.

Had Barret gone off the deep end? He seemed pretty ticked when Aerith talked to him. . .could she have pushed him to homicide?

"Who could have done this?" Kent shouted.

"Probably the guy who came with _you_!" Someone shouted. Kent looked up the stairs at a large, bronzed man, security guards surrounding him, all holding shotguns. The man was buldging from tight pants and a muscle shirt, a large belt with the word "Dio" encrusted into it with jewels.

"I was suspicious of that guy the minute he stepped foot in here." Dio said, looking at all three of them. "Of course, it doesn't suprise me that you'd be with him," Dio continued, pointing at Kent, "But I'm suprised this lovely young girl would associate with people like you.

"And my own employee!" Dio shouted, pointing at Cait Sith. "I hate to do this, but you're banned from the Gold Saucer. . .forever!" Dio snapped his fingers, and the guards trained their guns towards Kent.

Snarling, Kent took a running leap for one of the guards. The guard panicked and fired a shot, and only succeeded in putting a hole in one of the vacuum tubes.

Kent took the distraction time to jump over the group and run up the stairs, leading to the actual battle square. Using his sword, he stuck it in the ground and stood on the handguard. He grabbed a piece of materia out of his belt and began chanting.

"Materia!" Dio shouted. "Hit the deck!"

Aerith and Cait Sith ran past Kent while the guards were distracted. "Not bad, you guys," Kent began, plucking his sword from the ground, "But why don't you try your hand against me when I actually _know_ how to use materia?"

Kent sprinted towards Cait and Aerith, who were waiting by an iron door. Shouting in exasperation, Kent kicked it down and lead Cait and Aerith into the actual battle arena.

The only problem was that the battle square, aside from the way they had come in had no exit.

"This is _not_ good!" Kent said, looking at the exit that Dio's large frame now occupied.

"There's nowhere to run," Dio said, and snapped his fingers. Three large robots dropped from the ceiling and began to inch their way towards the three cornered combatants.

Aerith screamed as the floor opened up in front of her. A robot grabbed her arms and jumped down.

Kent looked at Dio's slighly amused look, then the floor, then the robot approaching him. He swore, and tossed his sword at the robot. He'd have to remember to get the Hardedge back from Cloud.

The sword's tip hit the robot, but succeeded in doing nothing but breaking the sword. Kent had run out of options.

"Dammit, Dio, we didn't do it!" Kent shouted as the robot grabbed his arms.

"Save your lies for the sand, boy!" Dio shouted as the robot jumped out of the saucer. "They might care more than I do."

_Kent leaned against the side panel of his first car, a 1991 Hyundai SCoupe. He was barely eighteen, his homecoming date his youth group leader's sister, Heidi._

_It was slightly uncomfortable, and Eric, the youth group leader, had voiced that very intently. Of course, right now, it didn't matter. All that mattered right now was that he and Heidi were now looking over the Hangman Valley, now filling with fog. Every once in a while a car would drive through the valley, illuminating the fog._

_"When was this recorded?" Heidi asked, sitting in the driver's seat. She was referring to a concert CD that his high school band recorded a year ago._

_"Last year." Kent replied. "I would have liked to have gotten a copy of An American Elegy." _

_She looked at him. "I think it's about time you started to get me home."_

_"Yeah." Kent said. "Hey, wanna drive?"_

_"I probably shouldn't. . .mom wouldn't like that very much."_

_"Good point." Kent said. "Well, shall we?"_

_"Sure." She said, sliding over into the passenger's seat, which was hard to do, her wearing a dress and all. "Is Eric coming with us?"_

_"If he wants to." Kent said, getting in. "Let's stop by the church, see if he wants to."_

_"Alright." She replied. "Mind if I change the CD?"_

_"Go right ahead." Kent said. She dug through what Kent called "depository A", also known as the glove box._

_She dug out a red, white, and blue CD. "Gordon?"_

_"Yup." Kent said, starting the car. _

_She put the CD in the player and let it start playing. "You said you were a big anime fan?"_

_"Huge." Kent replied._

_"You have any Bebop?" Heidi asked._

_"Not on me." Kent replied, getting ready to head towards Latah, an hour drive away. _

_Suddenly, Kent saw a pair of lights snap on behind him. They weren't police lights; he'd know those right away. _

_"Oh, no. Not them." Kent muttered, getting a tighter grip on the steering wheel._

_"Who?" Heidi replied._

_"A bunch of guys who have some grudge against me." Kent said. "Looks like they're driving the Suburban. . .luckily, we've got speed on our side!"_

_Kent punched the pedal to the floor and let the automatic transmission shift into what Kent called "warp drive"._

_"I thought you'd do this. . .you know, you don't have to show off. . ."_

_"I ain't showin' off." Kent said as the headlights in his rearview mirror lifted up a bit. The Suburban had followed his lead. Good. Kent liked this. The car shifted into a lower gear. "I hope the transmission can take this. . ." Kent muttered as he turned off onto a dirt road._

_"Are you crazy!?" Heidi yelled._

_"Somewhat!" Kent replied, power sliding around a corner. The Suburban's headlights peeped through the dust. This wasn't a game._

_"You're serious." Heidi calmly said, realizing Kent's calm, collective attitude towards being followed by a car that could turn his little Hyundai into dust._

_"Yeah. And I **don't** want them to get ahold of you." Kent finished, sliding around yet another corner. "They said that they'd be looking for me. Man, I shoulda taken dad's car. . ."_

_Kent squealed around another corner and onto the road, rocketing down the Palouse once more, towards Latah once more. "Is my CB down there?"_

_"Yeah, yeah," Heidi said, a little shaken up about the recent turn. A car was meant to be on four wheels, not two. She took the microphone and handed it to Kent._

_"Igno to Big Johnson, Igno to Big Johnson, you read me?"_

_"I read 'ya, Igno." Kent's friend, Matt, said over the CB. "Whatcha need?"_

_"Get some police and have them meet a teal Hyundai Scoupe, licence plate 'DCIDOOD' on the Palouse. I'm being persued by an eighty nine Suburban."_

_"I copy you, Igno. See you in fifteen."_

_Kent knew they might not have fifteen. He hoped Heidi didn't know that. Kent gasped as he saw the Suburban slowly pull out of a farm in front of them, then turn towards them. Kent punched the brakes and shifted into reverse. _

_Kent shoved the car into drive, quickly pulled a one eighty, and put the pedal on the floor, sending the two back towards Spokane on the Palouse. _

_"Don't let me guess, they don't wanna kill you, right?" Heidi asked._

_"Nope." Kent replied._

_Heidi shivered, and silently thanked god that Kent knew what he was doing. At least, she hoped he knew what he was doing. _

_The worst possible thing happened at that precise moment - the gas light came on._

_Kent inwardly swore. "Have you finished any unfinished business, notified your next of kin, and updated your will?"_

_"Uhh. . .yeah."_

_"Good." Kent said, and slammed the pedal to the floor once more. "Gas has just become a precious resource."_

_"Then why are you wasting it like that?" Heidi asked._

_"Simple." Kent said. "The faster we get to Johnson and the police, the faster we can both get you home and get them off us. Plus, once we're in the city, we can get more gas._

_Heidi looked over at Kent and at the sheer determination in his bespectacled eyes. He was doing this for her, not himself, and she knew he'd rather have himself beaten to within an inch of his life to letting them lay a finger on her._

_"Thank you." She said._

_Kent's face formed into a slight smile. "Don't mention it."_

_"To my brother, maybe." She said. "Not my parents."_

_Kent laughed, in spite of the situation at hand. "Go for it. Just hope we get to help before we run out of gas."_

_Heidi leaned back in her seat. She had nothing to fear, for she knew God was also on Kent's side._

Kent's eyes opened to Aerith's scream. He picked himself up off the ground, and pulled out the only weapon he had - his handgun. He looked over to where the scream had come from and found that Aerith was being attacked by three dirty, oversized men who easily overpowered Aerith.

"Hey!" Kent shouted, getting the attention of the men. "Back off."

"Oh, yeah?" The leader of them asked. "Or what?"

Kent flipped the hammer of his gun back. "Or you get real friendly with Colt."

The man laughed, and walked towards him. "Oh, is that so?"

"Or, you could always meet my eagle, too." Kent replied, pulling out his Desert Eagle. Kent hoped that the man wouldn't call his bluff.

"Oh, is that so?" The man asked, and laughed. It was in that moment, in the searing heat that Kent saw the man's gun arm, grafted to where his left arm should go. "How 'bout you leave us to our business, or we kill you?"

Kent sneered. "Fat chance."

Kent flipped the hammer back on his Desert Eagle. "I will shoot you."

"Oh, is that so?" The man asked, as he brought his gun up. "Well, I can assure you, if you shoot me, then they will shoot you, then have their way with your girl over there, then shoot _her_."

Kent squinted at the man. He saw Aerith behind her, her arms being held by the other two men. Tears were streaming down her face, and her staff lay broken off to her right.

Kent suddenly realized something. Something that could very well save their lives. With the swiftness of a fox, Kent snapped his emergency clip into his Desert Eagle and shot the man's two cohorts, making Aerith cry out in suprise. Kent barely ducked fast enough to avoid a blast of buckshot.

"Not bad!" The man shouted, firing a spread of three shots that would have nailed Kent for sure had he not quickly dove out of the way. Kent threw his Desert Eagle into its holster until later.

Using what little agility he had left, Kent dove behind a rock just as a blast of buckshot hit his rock.

"Smart move, guy. Leaving me alone to have at your wife. . .ahh, young love is so beautiful. . .especially when the husband runs away. . .isn't it, babe?"

Three sharp cracks broke the air, and knocked the man off his feet. Aerith looked over at where Kent was now standing, his Desert Eagle smoking.

"First of all, we're not married. Second of all, if you so much hurt a hair on her head, I will beat you to within less of an inch of your life, then let you rot out here."

Aerith smiled at him. The man looked at his gun arm and saw the three smoking dents. "Is this all your 'eagle' can do?"

"Would you like to see their effect on human flesh?" Kent said, standing over him, gun drawn.

"You pull that trigger and I'll fill you so full 'a' lead, we'll use you as a pencil!"

Kent looked over at the new voice and raised an eyebrow. "Barret?"  
"Dyne." Barret said.

"Now," Dyne began, sitting up, "That's a voice I'd never forget. . ."

Barret took another step forward, wincing. _Phantom pains_, Kent thought, moving to Aerith's side.

"Dyne, what happened?" Barret asked. "Why all this?"

Dyne looked at Barret, then snarled, firing his gun, striking the sand at Barret's feet. "Quiet! Can't you hear them? Their voices. . .Eleanor and Marlene. . . calling me. . .begging me. . .not to _hate your rotten guts_!"

"I don't expect you to forgive me for what happened!" Barret shouted back.  
Dyne looked at Barret and took three steps closer. "What do _you_ care, anyway? Do you think the people of Corel think, you think the Shinra care why? All the damned Shinra gave us was artillery, supplies, and excuses. What's left? Emptyness and despair. . ."

"Dyne. . ." Barret began.

"Do you still want to know why?" Dyne asked. "Then follow me."

Dyne motioned for Barret to follow, and lead him behind a trash heap, towards a pair of dusty graves at the edge of a cliff.

"Never found the bodies." Dyne said. "Just a pile of ash and the smell of burning flesh. That's the homecoming I got. Marlene, Eleanor, even Myrna! All of them killed, and for what!?"

Dyne took a deep breath as Barret looked on, Kent and Aerith behind him. "I want to destroy everything. This town. . .this world. . .even. . .myself."

"Dyne, Marlene's alive!"

Dyne looked up at Barret, an expression of sheer shock on his face. "Yeah, I found her on the edge of town after the fire died down. You an' me, Dyne, we can go see 'er. She's hiding in Midgar. We can go see 'er, you an' me. Just like old times."

There was a tense moment of silence. "Alright, Barret. I guess we gotta fight."

"_What_!?" Barret asked.

"Marlene wants to see her mama, right?" Dyne asked, a wide smile crossing his face. He fired a round that barely missed Barret.

"Dammit, Dyne!" Barret shouted. "I can't die yet!"

"Yeah!?" Dyne shouted, firing round after round. "My life's been over since that day!"

Barret dug his heels into the ground before leaping to tackle his friend turned enemy. "What the _hell_ is wrong with you!?"

"I told you!" Dyne shouted, kicking the impossibly heavier man off him. "I want to destroy _everything_!"

Kent kicked open the door of a house, Aerith bleeding to death in his arms. She was still concious, but barely. She'd taken one of Dyne's stray shots square in the chest.

Quickly but carefully, Kent set her down on a couch in the room and produced his combat knife. "Don't worry, Aerith' you'll be fine. . ."

She looked at him, her green eyes glazed over, her face pale as a ghost. Kent had to work fast. Really, really fast.

He slipped her dirty, red velvet jacket off and cut the top part of her pink dress open down the middle. She'd need a new dress, as her's was soaked with blood.

"Kent. . .is it night. . .it's so dark. . ."

"Yeah," Kent began, taking his shirt off to wipe off her stomach. "It's nighttime."

Kent wiped off her stomach, only to see that she wasn't bleeding from one wound, rather, from many different wounds. _Buckshot_, Kent thought, searching his pack for a healing potion of some sort, anything would do.

Oh, the circumstances weren't good at all. Aerith couldn't die yet, Kent still had so much to say.

"We don't have any healing potions," Aerith whispered. Kent stopped in his tracks.

"Of course we do, we've gotta get you something. . ." He said, digging around in his pack more.

Aerith put her hand on Kent's sholder. "Kent. . .you have to use my materia. It was in my staff."

Kent's eyes went wide. How long had it taken him to find this place? And the odds he'd find this place again? Kent spun around and looked at Aerith. Her pupils had dialated and her breathing was becoming shallow. This couldn't happen to Aerith, not now. . .she was only twenty-two. . .

A soft red glow filled Kent's hands. The energy coming off it felt a little like Aerith's little trick she called "healing wind". . .could this be a variation?

Suddenly, the instructions for the energy filled his head. The knowledge of the ancients.

"Hold on, Aerith, this might hurt a litte," Kent said, putting his hand on her stomach, then moving them across her skin, leaving the red glow on her wounded skin.

Aerith's eyes shot open and looked at Kent. "This might hurt a little. . hold on."

Quickly, Aerith closed her eyes and arched her back, letting out a howl of pain.

"Don't worry, I'm here," Kent said, holding her hand.

Slowly, she came back down, her breath coming in deep, rough breaths, Kent still holding onto her hand.

Catching her breath, she looked at Kent, her dress somehow repairing itself through the red glow.

"Thank you, Kent." She said, squeezing his hand.

"No problem." Kent said, smiling. He'd almost lost Aerith, and that was just a little too close for comfort. Exhausted from the day's events, Kent sat up against the bottom of the couch.

"You liar."

Kent looked up at Aerith.

"You said it was nighttime."

"Sometimes, you gotta lie to keep people calm." Kent said, sighing. "I need some sleep. Please, let me rest," Kent drew in a breath and sighed it out.

"I owe you, don't I?" She asked.

"Don't worry about it." Kent said. "Don't worry. . ."

It was nighttime before Kent woke up again. Aerith was asleep on the couch above him. He smiled, and looked about the room. It looked like the rest of the group had found them and hadn't wanted to wake him.

The only ones that were missing were Cait Sith and Barret.

"I hope he's okay," Kent muttered, standing up. The only light was the silver moonlight streaming in from the window. The light streamed in, framing Aerith's face and chest, like a painting, almost.

He checked his watch and saw that it was close to three thirty in the morning.

_And I'm hungry, so let's eat,_ Kent thought, quoting more Barenaked Ladies. Looking around the room, he saw the Hardedge leaning against the wall. Aerith had probably told Cloud what happened and had set the Hardedge aside for Kent.

Kent took the farmiliar handle of the big sword and gave it an experimental swing. It had a few more knicks in it then when Kent last had it, but it was none the worse for wear.

Picking up his magnetic locks from when he'd thrown them off to get at his shirt, he put them on his bare back. He shivered at the touch of the magnetized locks on his back, then put the hardedge into the locks. Kent laied back down, and tried to get some sleep on the hard wooden floor.

Reno sighed, and knocked back another scotch. "I thought they were supposed to be here. . ."

Rude nodded, and took a drink off his third mug of beer. "That's what the reports said."

Reno poured another shot and knocked it back. "Well, whatever, Shinra's paying for us being here, so we might as well squander it."

Rude nodded and finished his mug of beer.

Reno cracked a small smile and stood up. "Should we check the chocobo races? No better way to waste money. . ."

Rude nodded and followed his intoxicated partner to the tube leading to the chocobo square. With a whoosh and an amused shout from Reno, the two Turks emerged into the chocobo square. A short walk up the stairs and through the double doors lead the two into the main area. Almost every square inch of the square was taken up, making the room both very crowded and very hot.

Reno stumbled up to the betting table and looked down at the list of chocobos and racers.

"Sir, would you like to bet?" The attendant asked.

"Give me. . .just a second. . ." Reno began, trying to figure out how to get the room to stop spinning. He looked down at the sheet and nearly had a heart attack.

"Strife, Cloud!?" Reno asked, shocked out of his drunkeness. "He's a racer!?"

"He just came up from the Corel Prison." The attendant answered.

Reno laughed. "In that case. . .sixtey thousand on him. And I'll take my winnings in gil."

"But sir," The attendant began, "He hasn't even won yet."

Reno grinned wider. "Then make it eighty."

The attendand shook her head, then handed Reno the tickets. He smiled and turned to his partner.

"You seem pretty sure about that." Rude said.

"I bet on Cloud."

"No shit."

"Nope." Reno began. "Care to rub the tickets on your head for good luck?"

"How 'bout you shut up and watch the race?" Rude spat back.

Kent was sweating, even with his shirt off. Cloud had gone up to race for their release on one of those oversized chickens. _Man, this place is wierd,_ Kent thought.

Aerith seemed to be fine after Kent's wierd healing thing. . .how he'd pulled that off confused him beyond anything he'd ever known. Sure, he'd pulled some off the wall stuff out of his ass in his F-18 with Zack behind him, like there was that time he'd flown between the engines of a KC-135. Oh, he'd gotten chewed out for that one hardcore.

And then, there was way back when he marched in drum corps. First, it was a miracle he even continued through to do it. Somehow, though, something inside him told him he had to keep going, keep trying.

Then, he'd somehow managed to skip one camp and then _still_ be able to march, even with his two knee injuries, lack of food, dehydration, and "repetition is the mother of all learning" from Travis, his most hated instructor. Oh, how Kent loved it when Travis got in his way. The drum corps way is quite simple - if a non marcher gets in your way, plow him over. The result was one of Kent's best days alive.

Oh, the good 'ol days. Kent sighed, and leaned against one of the wasted walls in the small shack they'd taken residence in. Cloud had been gone for three hours, what could possibly be taking him so long? At least Aerith seemed to be feeling better, and her spirits, as per always, were high. She seemed to keep the group aloft from the sea of dispair that surrounded them.

Judging from the cheerful shouting coming from the other room, the sea of dispair had just dried up. Even Barret's voice was raised. Cloud must have won. Kent sighed and walked into the other room. He was still sporting some pretty beefy bags from his lack of sleep last night.

"Cloud won!" Aerith said. "Isn't that great!?"

Kent mmm-hmm'ed and sat down on the tattered and torn couch next to Barret and Yuffie. "Did he win?"

"Yeah." Yuffie replied. Apparently, she was as enthused as he was. At least they were one step closer to getting Sephiroth, which meant one step closer to getting this journey over with and settling in with Aerith. . .

_Wait. Did I just think that?_ Kent asked himself, looking over at Aerith. This adventure was getting a little too touchy-feely. . .he'd admitted his feelings to Aerith, and she'd done the same for him. Could he just abandon her like that?

Like he abandoned _her_ not so long ago?

Kent shuddered. He wasn't going to walk away. He couldn't. It was against his code of ethics.

"Kent? Hello? Earth to Kent. . ." Tifa began.

Kent shook the cobwebs out of his head. Was he staring at Aerith? He didn't know. As a matter of fact. . .everything looked a little. . .out of whack. . .

"Hey, where's my pack?" Kent asked.

"I've got it!" Cait sith said. He jumped down off his mog and opened the thing's mouth. From it he pulled three pick axes, a day and a half's worth of toilet paper, eight teatherballs, two baseball bats, and finally emerged with Kent's pack.

"Thanks," Kent said, pecking his mysteriously dry pack from the mog. From its front pocket he plucked his glasses and placed them on his face. "I knew the eyesight wouldn't last forever. Well, at least I can see better."

"I like them on you." Cait said, letting his mog place him back on his head. "They make you look more intelligent."

"I get that a lot." Kent said, putting the magnetic sunglass lenses on them. "Alright, then. Now what?"

As if on cue, someone wearing a Golden Saucer uniform walked into the falling apart house. "Is there a mister Sith here?"

"That's me." Cait called, his mog waddling up to the bewildered employee. There was a brief exchange, then the employee handed Cait an envelope.

Kent walked over to Cait. "What's in the envelope?"

The cat fumbled with the envelope before opening it and dumped the contents onto the mog's head. "We've got a lifetime pass to the Gold Saucer, a letter of apology, and a key to something."

Kent snatched the key from the mog's head and looked at it. "I'll be damned. GM."

"I'll get Cloud on the PHS," Aerith began, pulling the phone out of her coat pocket. Not even twenty-four hours before, that jacket had been blood stained beyond recognition.

_No use dwelling on the past,_ Kent thought, _it always brings back bad memories._

"Cloud says he'll meet us outside. Let's go!" Aerith said, tucking the phone back into her jacket.

Kent hadn't driven in a long time, and it took some time for him to get used to driving with a clutch again. But, driving with the wind in his hair once again reminded him of a time long ago, when life was carefree and not about making deadlines, standing at attention and hoping you made it to the waypoint before you got your ass shot off.

Kent felt free, released for the first time in a long time. How long had it been since they'd arrived. . .two, three weeks? By now, they'd probably be labeled killed in action. . .they'd be labeled miracles, paraded around the world a couple of times, then retire rich.

Of course, that was no way to live. To live, you need to have some adventure, some thrill. Buying a Laborghini or a Ferarri and racing it down the street just didn't do it. He needed a bite in his adventures, something that made it dangerous, worthwhile. . .maybe some friends, too. The group he was with seemed like a good crew. The adventure was harrowing and dangerous. . .and he met a girl. This couldn't get any better.

Nonchalantly, Kent put the clutch in and shifted the impossibly overpowered six wheeled buggy into fifth gear. Behind the front seats was seating for Kent guessed at least ten or twelve people comfortably, sixteen or eighteen if they crammed.

But Kent had managed to stuff eight people in his tiny Hyundai, two up front, four in the back seat, two in the trunk. Oh, that was a fun time. . .a fun time indeed.

But the past was behind him. The only thing that mattered right now was Aerith riding shotgun and Kent in the driver's seat of the huge buggy. Barret seemed to be out of it since they left Corel. Kent decided he probably shouldn't ask him about it. Barret seemed like the kind of guy who could be emotional over many things.

Much like Kent himself. That was an odd thought. . .

Lately, Kent had been hearing a dull roar in the back of his head. It almost reminded him of the F-18 he'd let sink into the ocean before they'd gotten the F-22, but it was different. He could pick out voices. . .was it the Jenova cells in him?

But, didn't Tseng say he didn't _have_ any Jenova cells in him? This whole thing was messed up.

But, still, the dull roar. It could be the Jenova cells, or it _could_ be something more. . .lately, Kent had felt like this was his home, like way back in high school, when he'd come home and he could _say_ he was home. After he graduated and joined the Air Force, he couldn't say that. Everywhere felt foreign.

And still. . .he could hear individuals actually talking. Kent was christian. . .was the voice of god actually several voices? Was he going insane? Lately, Kent had been feeling a sort of aura around Aerith. Kent was getting worried about her. She wasn't eating well, she didn' sleep a whole lot, and it didn't have something to do with her getting shot in the chest. He'd know the symptoms; one of his good friends was shot down in the Gulf War. As a result, he didn't sleep well, eat well, and always, _always_ remained vigilant. Kent had snuck up on Aerith a couple of times, even when he wasn't trying to. Aerith was a mysterious woman in many ways. But, then again, so was Kent, but he was quite open about himself. Aerith, on the other hand. . .she didn't know much about her past at all, so there wasn't much to be open about. She'd said that she'd been friends with Tseng before he'd joined the Turks, or even Shinra, for that matter. They'd been good friends, but never boyfriend and girlfriend. Her boyfriend, whom had died on a SOLDIER mission had been her first; they'd gone out since their senior year of high school.

Kent had one girlfriend, his girlfriend down in Walla Walla. He'd broken up with her for two reasons, the first was the relationship just wasn't working out. The second was Kent had another girl on the rise, Heidi, but they never got beyond good friends. Which, in Kent's opinion, was a good thing. Things could have gotten ugly if they had. . .Eric and himself would have become distant, his friends would look at him differently. . .he'd be in a world of hurt.

The past. . .he had to keep himself from thinking about it.

"Kent!"

Kent shook his head and looked dead ahead at a chocobo in front of the buggy in the dieing light.

"Yaah, shit!" Kent shouted, cranking the wheel to the right sending them wheel deep into the river they'd been following for the last two hours. The group looked at him, needles in their eyes.

"Umm. . ." Kent began sheepishly, "Whoops?"

The letter that they had recieved had hinted that Sephiroth was headed towards the town of Gongada, southwest of the Gold Saucer, so the best vyeable option was to go there. Besides, Cloud needed a new sword. The Buster Sword had a nasty bend in it from the drop to the desert. He'd need a new one soon. For now, though, though, they had decided to check Gongada for Sephiroth. If he was there, there'd be a little swordfight, and this whole mess would be over. If he wasn't, then the search continued.

And that damned roar was starting to drive Kent insane, if he wasn't already. But it was getting stronger, louder. Loud to the point he could hardly hear Aerith when she spoke to him.

"Kent!" She shouted.

"Huh?" Kent asked, looking over at her. "Sorry. . .I was kinda in my own little world."

"Mmm-hmm." She muttered, and continued walking. Women worked in mysterious ways; Kent knew the in's and out's of the F-22 fighter, yet women he still couldn't figure out.

He sighed and fingered the Hardedge on his back. It was nice to have that hunk of Shinra metal on his back, and it helped him to keep his mind off the dull roar filling his ears and tune his acute senses to the world about him, the soft sound of the grass folding under Aerith's feet, the birds chirping around them, the soft voices in the background. . .

Kent mentally kicked himself for listening to the voices in his head again. . .he was insane.

No. . .wait. . .they weren't in his head this time. . .it was the Turks. And they were talking about girls.

"Shh. . ." Kent began. "I hear the Turks."

"So, c'mon, Rude. Who do you like?" Reno said, resting against a tree, fingering his nightstick.

Rude looked at the redheaded turk. ". . .Tifa."

Reno reared his head back in laughter, then slapped his thigh. "Oh, man, that's rich. Just make sure Tseng doesn't find out. . .or Elena, for that matter. . ."

"No, Elena likes Tseng." Rude replied, obviously eager to turn the conversation away from him.

"But Tseng likes the Ancient. . .Aerith, somethin' like that. . ."

Aerith turned to look at Kent, who's face had turned beet red, and was shaking uncontrolably.

"Kent, are you alright?" She asked.

Kent couldn't hold it in anymore. He finally let loose with his wild laughter.

"Ahh, I just can't stand those two!" Someone said. "All they ever do is talk about who they like and don't like. . ."

Kent turned around to see Elena talking to him. "You really should listen in; it's quite funny."

"Oh, but Tseng. . .he's different. . ."

Kent wiped his tears of laughter off his face. Aerith rolled her eyes, and reached inside her jacket.

Elena looked at Kent, then hardened her expression. Before she could find words, she just let out a suprised squeak. In a heartbeat, the other Turks were at her side, ready to start a fight.

They looked at Kent and relaxed a bit. "Oh. It's just you."

Kent rolled his eyes. "Just me, huh? You'd think that I could at least get a 'Hey, it's Kent!', but noooooo, I'm just the guy with Cloud with no relevance whatsoever."

"We don't have a beef with you." Rude said.

"I do." Reno said. "I still need to get you back for what you did to me back on the ship."

Kent sighed, and pulled out his sword. "Whatever, let's just do it."

Reno looked at Kent as Rude dissapeared into the woods. "So, where's he going?"

"Nowhere in particular," Reno said, producing his nightstick. "You ain't getting out of this one, boy."

Kent squinted at the Turk, then lunged at him. Reno sidestepped out of the way and tried to smack Kent in the back with his nightstick, only succeeding in meeting Kent's sword, behind his back.

Kent rolled onto his back and took a couple stray swings with his sword before hooking his foot behind Reno's knee, knocking him to the ground. As Reno fell, he managed to stick his nightstick square on Kent's chest and engage the electrodes at the end, sending a hot pain through Kent, causing him to shout and yell quite a few obceneties that Aerith had never heard and a few that Reno had to remember the next time he got in a fight with Rufus.

Reno came tumbling down on Kent, making them both snarling balls of humanity ready to snap eachother's heads off. Kent kicked Reno off him and grabbed Reno's nightstick.

Finding the closest thing nearby, Reno grabbed the Hardedge. Kent had fought with ultralight weapons before, and Reno had extensive training in every weapon Shinra could put out, including the Hardedge.

Kent charged Reno again, giving Reno the defensive edge. Reno brought the broad side of the sword up to block the nightstick. Kent snapped the edge of the stick against the sword, causing sparks to fly from both the sword and the nightstick.

Kent brought his stance back to one he'd learned during mock swordfighting - sword forward, other hand back, much like a boxing stance. Reno simply gripped the Hardedge with both hands, looking for a weak point in Kent's defense. They were in a stalemate. Kent make a quick move to snap Reno's forehead, succeeding only in meeting the pommel of the Hardedge. Using his reflexes, Kent jumped back and made a low, quick strike, snapping Reno in the ribs, causing a sharp electric current to run through Reno's side. Reno only grunted and swung the Hardedge at Kent, meeting only his nightstick. Using his wrist, Kent managed to get a good three snaps in on the Turk before he had a chance to regain a defensive stance.

Meanwhile, Reno and Aerith seemed to be having a lovely conversation.

"How long do you think they'll be at it?" Aerith asked.

"Judging from how well Kent uses the nightstick, and Reno's extensive training. . .another five, ten minutes."

"Aah." Aerith said, looking at the two going at it again.

The two combatants began in a flurry of movement, neither one letting up or relenting in their attacks. Reno's attacks with the sword were fast and powerful, Kent's were quick and often. Whenever Reno would land one hit, Kent would land another four. They were going nowhere, and they were only succeeding in pissing eachother off, and doing so quite well. Kent would move faster and faster, Reno would swing harder and harder.

Finally, the nightstick and the sword met, both fighters looking needles at eachother, Kent's hair wet with sweat, his glasses slipping down his nose, Reno's face glistening with persperation, both of them breathing hard.

Aerith sighed. "You think we should let them keep going?"

"Just a little while longer." Rude replied. "This is starting to get good."

Kent rolled out of the way of the Hardedge as Reno brought it down where he would have been. Kent took another swing at Reno, only succeeding in snapping his sunglasses off his head.

Reno snarled and took a flying leap at Kent, the Hardedge poised and ready to strike. Kent stood with the nightstick ready to snap Reno down as he got ready to slash.

Reno spun his body around, using the tourque he was pulling to try and slice Kent into two pieces. Kent ducked just in the nick of time, causing Reno to dig the Hardedge into a nearby tree, cleanly cutting the top six feet off. Without missing a beat, Reno brought the sword around again, meeting nothing but thin air. In his side he felt a shooting pain through his side, throwing him to the ground. Reno closed his eyes as he saw the nightstick coming to snap him right in the nose.

But nothing happened.

He opened his eyes, and saw the electrodes hovering not even an inch before his face, Kent snarling. In a truly sportsmanlike manner, Kent retracted the nightstick and extended his hand.

"Good fight."

Reno smiled, and took Kent's hand to help him up.

"No kidding. I haven't used a sword in so long. . .it was a good workout. You have a pretty good hand with the nightstick, though. You take any extensive ultralight training?"

"Not really." Kent replied, handing Reno the nightstick. "I was in a mock fighting guild, we used foam padded weapons. I learned to use them really, really well."

"So I see," Reno said, picking up his sunglasses and handing Kent the Hardedge. "Well, at least I got you back for the cargo ship."

"Yeah, although I'll admit that _was_ a little uncalled for."

"A little?" Reno asked, laughing. "A lot."

Rude looked at Aerith. She looked back at him. "Umm. . .weren't they trying to kill eachother not even two seconds ago?" Aerith asked.

"Yup." Rude replied. "Well, I suppose that's our cue to go. Thanks for the flower."

"No problem." Aerith replied, and smiled at him. Rude blushed a little and began walking towards his winded partner. At the same time, Kent walked over to Aerith and extended a hand to her to help her up.

"What was that about?" Aerith asked.

"An old score to settle." Kent replied. "C'mon, I'm sure Cloud's getting worried."

Gongada could barely be called a town. It had been torn apart by a reactor explosion long ago, and the people only lived in small shacks. The people barely even seemed to be getting through; all that was carrying them was hope.

As Kent and Aerith walked through the village, Aerith handed out flowers to the people. Their eyes glimmered with thanks as they nodded at her, then continued on their way. Kent marvelled at how the small splash of Aerith's pink flowers could brighten someone's day.

Kent's mind was screaming at him.

_Help me,_ he heard, clear as day. _Heal me. . ._

Help who? Heal who? Kent was convinced he'd finally gone off the far edge. Or, maybe he was just a little tired. . .

"Hey, Aerith, do I look as tired as I feel?" Kent asked.

She turned around and looked at her companion. "You've got some impressive bags under your eyes, but otherwise you look fine."

Kent nodded, and adjusted his glasses. "Thanks."

She nodded, and continued through the town, following Aerith's red and pink clothes. She brought joy to him every time he saw her. Just having her around him was enough to fill his soul to its brim and then some. She was. . .perfect. From her perfectly placed brown hair, to her sparkling green eyes, to her natural nails, right down to her tiny feet, Kent was convinced she was perfect.

"Pardon me, young man." Kent heard someone next to him say.

"Yes?" He replied, looking at the aging old man, his wife and himself arm and arm.

"Were you in SOLDIER?"

"No, I wasn't." Kent said.

"I was," Cloud replied, walking up to Kent and Aerith.

"Well, then. Do you know a boy named Zack? He's about your age, joined SOLDIER, first class. . ."

Aerith's heart skipped a beat. Kent looked at her, who's eyes were wide and beginning to well up with tears.

"Zack Glenrose?" Aerith asked, her voice starting to crack a little.

"Why, yes." The old woman began. "You see, he's our grandson. He went on a mission seven years ago and he hasn't written back since."

"N. . .no, I haven't seen him lately," Aerith began, trying her best to hide tears.  
"Doesn't ring a bell." Cloud spacily said.

"Oh." The old man said. "Well, if you see him, tell him to stop by."

"I will." Kent said, and turned to Aerith. Before he could talk to her, she was already running towards the inn, holding her hands to her face.

Kent dumped his stuff off at the door of their room and sat down next to Aerith, trying her best to regain some composure. Kent sighed; he'd never been good at comforting people.

"Aerith. . ." Kent began.

She sniffed and tried to look at him.

"Aerith. . .it's okay." Kent said, taking her hand. "If he's alive, we'll find him."

"He's not," She said, her tears coming through in her voice. "I know he's dead. . ."

Kent tried his best to find words to reply to her statement. "Listen, Aerith. . .God, I can't find any words. . ."

Aerith looked at him. "Don't force it. I know you're trying to be nice, but I just need to be alone for a while. . ."

Kent nodded, and stood up. Before he walked out of the room, he looked at her. "Before I go, just know that I'm here for you. Always have been, always will be. If you need anything, talk to me."

Aerith nodded and sniffed. Kent sighed and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. He looked at the rest of the group, sitting in the lounge area, and sighed.

"I don't know what happened, but she just needs to be alone."

Everyone said some sort of reply to the effect of yes.

"So, what took you two so long to get here?" Cloud asked.

"I ran into the Turks. It was almost like they knew we were going to be here. . ."

"How?" Barret asked.

"Easy." Kent said, taking his glasses off. "We have a spy on our hands."

Cloud looked at Kent. "I don't want to think that. I trust everyone here. . ."

"Maybe. . ." Barret began, looking at Kent, "You _are_ working for the Shinra. . ."

"Let's not point fingers, here." Cait said.

"I agree." Cloud said.

Kent sighed. "I don't want to condemn anyone here. . .but the brutal truth is, we _do_ have a spy on our hands, and we _do_ need to deal with it. There's only seven of us here, so it shouldn't be too hard to figure out who it is."

Cloud grimaced. "It doesn't matter right now. All that matters is picking up Zack and moving on to Nibelheim. Sephiroth isn't here, so we must keep moving."

Kent looked at the closed door. "Let's at least let Aerith have some time to herself. She needs it."

"Yes. . .she does." Tifa said. "She hasn't been eating right."

"Or sleeping much." Cait said.

Kent looked at the floor.

_Help me. . .heal me. . ._

Kent cracked his knuckles. "Does anyone else hear that?"

"Hear what?" Cloud asked.

Kent grumbled something and put his sword on his back. "I'm going out. I'll be back in a while."

"While you're out," Cloud said, "Try and find Yuffie."

"I'll do that." Kent said.

The reactor at what used to be the center of Gongada was no more than a heap of metal that kept sucking raw mako out of the earth. The sweet smell of the blood of the planet filled the area. The blue green liquid sloshed about in puddles as Kent walked through the area. Finally, Kent found the center of where the reactor had drilled into the ground, sapping the life from the planet.

Kneeling, he reached his hand into an opening, seeing if he couldn't find a toggle and turned the thing off. Grunting, he found a lever and pushed his weight against it.

"Damn, this thing's rusted. . ." he muttered to himself, getting onto his toes to try and close the valve. He grunted as he felt the valve start to move. Under his weight, the valve handle broke off, forcing his hand into a pool of mako.

And that was when things got wierd.

The voice in his head was screaming.

_Help me! Heal me!_

Kent's sight became blurry, then started to go black.

_Help me! Heal me!_

"How?" Kent asked.

The voice became quiet, but he saw a vision. It was a vision of Aerith, crying on her bed.

"Is Zack alive?" She quietly asked, her voice barely even making a sound. "Please. . .tell me."

Kent watched, dazed.

He heard a soft, quiet voice, much like Aerith's. It spoke evenly, calmly, and seemed to soothe even Kent.

"Aerith. . .you are not the only ancient." The voice said.

"Mother?" Aerith asked. "W. . .what do you mean?"

"There is another ancient." She said again. "Find him."

"But. . .what about Kent?" Aerith asked.

"Find him. . ." The voice said, then faded out into darkness.

Aerith sat up and dried her face with the heels of her hands. She sighed, and began to change for bed.

Kent's eyes shot open, the vision of the room still playing through in his mind. With one solid pull, his hand came out of the pool. The image went dead in his mind before he saw anything inappropriate.

Shaking the cobwebs from his head, he looked around. Another ancient? A soulmate for Aerith?

Kent sighed, and took his glasses off and rested his hand on his knee. He didn't want to loose her for someone else. The thought killed him inside. He couldn't loose her. . .she was all he had left. Would she just ditch him?

They'd been through quite a bit. . .Kent had let her know his most intimate feelings. . .he saved her life. . .and after that, after _that_, she would just drop him like that. Tossed away like some rag doll that had lost its usefulness.

Kent squeezed his fists. He couldn't believe it. He wouldn't believe it.

He punched the ground, sloshing mako over his glasses, mixing with Kent's tears.

Standing up and putting his glasses on, Kent began to walk back to the village.

Kent sat in the driver's seat, Aerith sitting next to him. Both of them were silent.

"Is something wrong?" Aerith asked.

Kent shook his head and shifted the buggy into fourth gear. "No." He muttered, not too convincingly.

"Kent, you can tell me," Aerith began, reaching over for his hand sitting on the stick shift.

"I'm fine, dammit." Kent said, his hand shooting over to the wheel. He didn't want to have anything to do with Aerith right now. . .he was in turmoil.

Aerith looked at him, hurt. His eyes focused on the road in front of them, coldly ignoring Aerith. Even Yuffie was suprised at the exchange between them.

"Kent, are you sure you're alright?" Cloud asked.

"Yes, I'm fine." Kent said, accentuating every word.

Cloud looked over at Tifa.

"You sure?" Tifa asked.

"Dammit, I'm fine! Stop asking me about it!" Kent exploded, looking back.

The group looked at him, silent. The only sound the idling of the buggy's engines.

He grumbled, then started the buggy moving again. Aerith looked over at him, tears brimming in her eyes.

"You've changed." She said, trying to hold back her tears. She knew they were coming, but she couldn't stop them.

Kent ignored her and kept his eyes on the road. Suddenly, Kent's eyes blazed open, a fire shooting through his chest he couldn't identify. He stomped on the brakes as the buggy shuddered to a halt, and, subsequently stopped running altogether.

"Kent, are you alright?" Aerith asked, looking at him. His eyes were squinting, trying to lock out the shooting pains. He wasn't having a heart attack. . .but what was it?

_How could you be so heartless?_

"What?" Kent asked. "Who said that?"

_You're no different from him. . ._

"Who? No different from who?

_In fact. . .you'll be the one who does the deed._

"What deed?"

The pain became more intense, causing Kent to wince and begin to growl in pain. His world turned to red as he began to slip into blackness.

"Kent! Oh, are you okay?" Aerith shouted. "Kent!"

"I'm. . .fine," Kent said, seconds before passing out.

"Kent, I wish I understood you," Aerith said, putting a damp cloth on his forhead. "I swear, you're harder to figure out than Zack. . ."

Tifa looked at Kent, next to Aerith. "I wonder what happened?"

"Who knows." Cloud said. "Maybe the stress of the Air Force and our very Marineish lifestyle finally got to him. . ."

"No," Tifa began. "He was fine before he left for the reactor."

Aerith looked at Tifa. "He left for the reactor?"

"Mmm-hmm." Tifa replied, taking Kent's glasses off his face. "He was wierd ever since he got back."

Aerith sat back on her legs, letting her hands lay in her lap, and let her head droop down.

"Aerith. . .did you have a hand in this somehow?" Cloud asked.

"I think so," Aerith said, trying to keep composure in her voice. "I'm sorry. . .it's my fault."

"Don't pin this on yourself." Tifa began.

Aerith looked at Tifa. "I'm glad you can think like that. Think about what I have to go through. And, on top of this, I've learned that there's another ancient out there. I need to find him. . .and I need to. . ."

Aerith tried to keep the tears from dribbling down her face, but failed. She succumbed to burying her face into her hands and crying.

_Crying. That's what Kent heard. . .crying. He could hear the tears hitting the ground, making tiny splashes. Kent looked at his hands and saw them bloodied with blood._

_His blood._

_He looked down and saw the Masamune buried in his chest, Aerith kneeling behind Sephiroth. The man looked at Kent, smiled, and began to pull the sword out._

_Aerith. She was crying. _

_Kent growled, grabbed the hilt of the massive sword, and pulled himself up it, bringing him eye to eye with Sephiroth._

_Without batting an eye, Kent jabbed him in the jaw with a bone shattering cracking sound. _

_Then, Kent felt the life being drained from his body. He was dieing, in front of Aerith's very eyes._

_His eyes went dull, and he snapped her a salute. Closing his eyes, he felt the darkness overwhelm him. . .then nothing._

_Aerith had watched Kent die. And Sephiroth was. . .laughing. Laughing!_

_Sephiroth pulled his sword out of Kent's chest and turned to face Aerith._

_Aerith looked at Sephiroth as he brought his sword to bear once more._

_Sephiroth smiled as Aerith stood up. Then, she realized something. Had Kent not taken the sword, she would be the one who layed dead on the altar. Kent had DIED for her. Given himself so she could live._

_Aerith simply came unglued. That was the only way to put it. She picked up Kent's sword as Sephiroth swung down at her. The Masamune clanked against the Hardedge inches from Aerith's face._

_She didn't even flinch._

_With a primal scream, she leapt off the platform and slashed Sephiroth's arm, causing blood to pour from his new wound._

_She squinted at Sephiroth, a holy gleam in her eyes. In a flash, Aerith was enveloped in white. . ._

Kent's eyes slowly opened, revealing Aerith's warm, green eyes to greet his own.

"You're finally awake." She said, her voice lined with poison.

Kent sighed. Why did he have to go and be such an asshole? Man, being in the Air Force sure did change him. If her destiny wasn't with him, then so be it. He'd help her get there even if it meant his own demise.

"How're you feeling?" Aerith asked. Her voice still had an edge on it.

"Like an asshole." Kent said, and sat up. "I'm sorry. . .I got some wrong ideas. . .it's just that things are starting to get a little funky with me, so I guess I was taking it out on you. I guess I'm trying to say I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted." Aerith said.

"Thanks." Kent said, and maneuvered himself onto his legs. He was still a little wobbly, and the fact that the buggy was moving didn't help his case much. Without a handhold, he found himself falling over.

"Whoa!" Aerith shouted, standing up and bracing him. "Watch it. . .you've been out for a good nine hours."

"Whoa. . ." Kent murmered. Nine hours. . .that was a _long_ time. "Sorry if I had you worried. . ."

"Don't worry about it." Aerith said, sitting down next to him. "I owe you for the cargo ship."

"Naa. . ." Kent said, putting his arm around Aerith's sholder, remembering back to the parade, his eyes looking past the horizon where Kent could barely make out the shape of the Sister Ray, the huge gun attatched to the upper part of Junon.

Now, _this_ was something Kent enjoyed. The feeling of the wind in his hair, the buggy's engine pouring power to the wheels, propelling the thing faster than it really should have been going in the canyon, anyway.

Aerith sat next to him, her braid whipping in the wind. The fading light cast a red glow around the earth about them, creating an almost unreal feeling to the scene.

It almost seemed like it was _just_ Kent and Aerith in the buggy. Kent looked at Aerith. She looked back, a wide grin on her face. Kent smiled back at her, then turned his head to watch the road again.

That was when disaster struck.

It started as a vibration in the front of the buggy. Kent tried to ignore it, but with such a large engine, that could only equate to _bad_ things.

Under the hood, Kent heard eighteen sharp pings under the hood, each one creating a huge dent. Finally, there was an explosion of sorts, creating a huge, rectangular dent in the hood, the engine dieing out.

Kent jumped out and popped the hood, only to see that the entire cylinder head had been blown off, bolts and all.

His mouth moved, trying to find words for the sight before him, but the only thing that came out was a cry of anguish. It was such a nice engine. . .

Cloud jumped out and walked over to Kent. He looked under the hood, then looked at Kent, then at the hood.

"Well. . .uhh. . .have fun." Cloud said. "Cosmo Canyon's not too far off."

"Yeah." Kent said, sighing. He was the only one with mechanical experience, so _he_ was the only one who could fix it. Kent sighed, closed the hood, and began following Cloud. It was almost dark, so Kent figured he'd start in the morning.

"I'll start first thing tomorrow." Kent said, shrugging his backpack higher onto his sholders. "In the meantime, we can stay here. I'm sure Red can hook us up with some cheap sleep. . .and maybe we can learn a little bit, too."

Everyone agreed.

"Alright, then." Cloud said. "What say we split up right now. . .it's 22:45 right now, we'll meet at 24:00 sharp at the Cosmo Candle."

Kent nodded. "Right."

"Hmm. . ." Kent murmered as he read through a particularly interesting book. It was two in the morning, and it was a miracle that Aerith and Cloud could get to sleep in the room. Kent had the light on to read through the thick book, and that left very little darkness for Aerith and Cloud to sleep in.

Kent nodded off a couple times himself, but managed to continue to read through.

"_The Cetra had amazing healing powers,_ Kent read, _some of the most interesting being the power to heal almost fatal wounds. These powers are activated by both emotion and that person's connection to the planet."_

"Could I be an ancient?" Kent asked, then laughed at himself. That'd be too much to ask. He never had that kind of luck; he always lost the girl, got shot down every other mission, and ended up in the brig more than once for stupid things.

Kent sighed, then read through more.

"_Some records show that a group of Cetra migrated to a different planet some time ago, but they were never heard from again. For that reason, the record has been disregarded and falsefied."_

_Disregarded and falsefied?_ Kent thought. _That can't be right for a scientist. Nothing's disregarded. . ._

Something didn't add up. Kent dog eared the page, set it on the night stand, and tried to sleep.

Kent sighed as he looked at the mangled cylinder head. The inside of it was melted and the bolts had been shot off into oblivion. As for the engine itself, it could be repaired, but it needed a completely new cooling system. They'd be here for a good day or two until they could get new parts shipped out.

"Looks pretty wasted." Kent heard Zack say from behind him.

"You'd better believe it." Kent said. "We need parts shipped in from god knows where. Maybe Detroit."

"There's a problem with that."

"I know." Kent said, shaking his head. "This is an Eldelbrock. As far as I know, they're hard to come by. _Real_ hard to come by, even where we're from."

Zack nodded. "I can see what I can do, but no guarantees."

"Hey, how's the fighter."

Zack smiled. "Funny you should ask. . ."

Kent scowled. "What did you do. . ."

"Well. . .umm. . ."

"Y'know, nevermind. I'll worry about it _after_ this crisis."

Zack nodded. "Why don't you have a drink with me at the inn, eh?"

"Sure." Kent said, standing up. "Maybe we can find somebody who knows where to get parts."

"Aerith, do you understand this?" The elder she was with, Ryn, asked.

"Yes, I suppose." Aerith said. Wow. This was a lot of stuff to take in. Her mission in life, what she was supposed to do if worst comes to worst. . .who she was supposed to love.

She didn't want to leave Kent. Not now. He seemed to vunderable right now. But he always seemed to be like a rock for her to lean on in her times of need. Now, it was her turn to repay the favor. She couldn't just leave him hanging. But. . .she knew her mission. She couldn't stay with him. She needed to find the last ancient.

What if that was Sephiroth? Cloud said that Sephiroth was an ancient. . .that could mean only bad things. But, it didn't matter. . .if that was it, then that was it. No questions about it.

And it simply couldn't be Kent. He wasn't even from the planet.

Silently, she wondered what he was doing now.

"What's the situation looking like, Zack?" Kent asked, ducking behind the bar.

"Well, there's a bunch of foreign drunkards, toting guns, that want to kill us 'cause we took their spot here."

"Well, that's just lovely." Kent said. "Well. . .this'll be just like back home. Cover me."

Kent jumped over the bar, suprising three of the eleven that had decided to stir things up. Whipping his sword off his back, he cut three of their rifles right down to the chamber, making them completely useless.

He tumbled into another two, roundhousing them to the ground. They were so drunk they probably couldn't even get up for a good five minutes. Even then, they'd have to resort to fist fighting.

Kent was no master, but he studied Jeet Kun Do for a couple years, making him quite the adversary in a fist fight.

Kent ducked as he heard a shot go off behind him. Rolling under a table, he knocked it over, using it as a barrier. It wouldn't hold in a million years.

"Well. . .now or never," Kent thought, and looked at the materia he had in his posession. Restore, time, fire.

Fire could be fun. Of course, he didn't want to kill them. Just catch them off guard. I'd be a one in a hundred shot if he could do it. . .

Kent clutched the materia in his hand and cleared his head. Focusing, he found the fires deep within the materia, waiting to be unleashed.

He held onto the power and tried to find his target. Within seconds, he had it.

Flames belched from the barrel of one of the drunkard's guns, igniting the gunpowder in his bullet, making it go off, creating a nice little hole in the ceiling.

Diversion. Leaping from behind the table, Kent jumped right in front of him, suprising the living daylights out of him. Kent could smell the alchohol on his breath from a mile away.

Using suprise to his advantage, he threw a punch, knocking him down and probably confusing him for a good two minutes afterwards.

Zack, on the other hand, was having quite a good time. He, too knew some martial arts, mostly Jeet Kun Do, like Kent. He, however, used it more extensively.

Example, he was taking on three of them and holding his own quite well. With a quick move, he managed to catch two of them off guard and knocked them right off their feet, leaving only that one.

Three more. They could take 'em.

Kent took this time to use his newly found skill of materia. He dug into the time materia for the fires that burned within. Finding them, he yanked them out quite forcefully, casting haste on both himself and Zack.

Using his newly found speed, Kent bolted in front of two of the remaining three and punched them both hard in the chest, sending them to the ground, both in pain.

There was only one left, and Zack seemed to have theat covered. Streching, Kent started to walk out of the bar. The minute he walked out, he was greeted by Cait Sith.

"Heya, cat." Kent said, putting his sword back in his sheath. "What's up?"

"Nothin' much." The cat replied, his moogle walking beside Kent. "I saw how you two worked in there. That was amazing."

"It's nothing." Kent said. "You need a basic self defense course to be in the Air Force, in case you eject and you run out of bullets. Zack and myself took some Jeet Kun Do. And, I suppose having the sword didn't hurt much, either," Kent mused, crossing his arms.

"Yeah, I guess not." Cait replied. "Hey, you know where Yuffie went off to? Cloud was wondering where she went."

"Knowing her," Kent began, looking at his watch. "Three. . .two. . .one. . ."

"Stop! Theif!" Someone shouted from the Materia shop.

"Just what I thought." Kent said, before seeing Yuffie drop down from the window. Before she could make a run for it, Kent used the time materia to cast a well placed stop spell on her.

Walking slowly up to her, Kent streched. "Well, what have we here?" Kent asked, taking the sack of materia from her frozen hand. "Heh. A bunch of vitalitly plus and mind plus. Well, if you don't mind, I'll just be taking these back."

Cait sith could barely stay on his moogle's head, he was laughing so hard.

_Never before had the Hyundai done such agressive driving. Never before had Kent driven like this with someone else in the car. Heidi knew Kent did some crazy stuff in his car, but nothing like this. This was simply insane. But, she did trust him. He said that they'd have enough gas for about fifty, maybe sixtey miles. _

_Plenty of room for Kent to do this thing. _

_Kent yanked the microphone from his CB and pushed the talk button. "Big Johnson, this is Igno, I'm heading down Baltimore down to Hangman Valley Road. Get some criusers and have them intercept."_

_"Copy that." Big Johnson said. "See you in ten."_

_Kent sighed, and dropped the microphone. "Some good that did us."_

_The Suburban was catching up. They must have been going at least one hundred fifty. Kent grimaced. The turns they would take, Kent would have to slow down considerably. . ._

_"Okay, Heidi, this is up to you. We can pull a Top Gun and risk doing a head on, or we can plow through here and hope they can't follow us."_

_"You're the driver." Heidi said. "It's up to you."_

_"Alright." Kent said, and tightened his grip on the wheel. "We're coming up on a turn. When I tell you to, shift us down to first and hold on for dear life."_

_Heidi nodded and put her hand on the shifter. _

_"Alright. . ."_

_Heidi braced herself._

_"Now!"_

_Heidi shoved the shifter into the first gear position. The car went into neutral for a second, then the transmission caught the engine. The tiny car seemed to wail in pain as the tachometer shot well over redline._

_Kent shoved the car into neutral and slammed on the brakes. They slid sideways into a turn, letting Kent put the car back into drive, shooting them through the turn, loosing the suburban in a shroud of smoke and steam._

_Quickly, Kent pulled up into a driveway and shut the car off. _

_Heidi looked at Kent. "How. . ."_

_Kent sighed, and tipped his chair back. "Do the same, or they might see us."_

_She grabbed the handle on her seat and tipped her's back._

_"This is really akward." She said._

_"I know." Kent replied. "I hear them. . ."_

_Kent heard the roaring of the Suburban as it passed them. He sighed, and sat up. "Well. . .that's over."_

_Heidi nodded._

_"Alright. . .we'll stop by home, grab another car, and we'll take you home, alright?"_

_"That'll work." She said, sitting up herself._

_"Good." Kent replied, and put the seat up. "I hope I can limp it home."_

_"Limp it home?" Heidi asked._

_"Yup. I'm gonna have to tear it apart and see what I did."_

_"I'm sorry." Heidi replied._

_"Don't worry about it." Kent replied, trying to get the Hyundai to start. He turned the key, and with one final grinding sound, sputtered to life. _

_"It sure sounds bad." Heidi said._

_"Yeah. I probably cracked the engine block. That's okay, though. At least you're safe."_

_"I guess you're right." Heidi replied._

Kent sighed, and sloshed his drink around in his glass. The bar had been cleaned up, and himself and Zack had earned themselves a full day of drinks on the house.

The word was Red was going to continue on the road with them. Kent's theory was indifference is bliss; such was his take on this. He'd learned that the more people he had looking over his wing, the safer he would be. The safer Aerith would be.

If only it had been like that on that night. . .

Kent closed his eyes and tried to block out the bad memories. Taking off his glasses, he rubbed the bridge of his nose, as he often did when he was stressed. He stuck his hand in his pocket and felt the cell phone that Rufus had given him.

"What the hell," he murmered, putting his drink down.

The bartender had to laugh. He had all the drinks in the world and the only thing he ordered was a birch beer. Oh, well. To each their own.

Kent dialed Rufus's number and put the phone to his ear.

"Rufus here." Kent heard.

"Hey, Rufus." Kent said.

"Hartmann?" Rufus asked. "I was wondering if you were gonna take me seriously. What's up?"

"Not a whole lot. Hey, I need to ask you a favor."

"What's that?" Rufus asked. Kent heard him take a sip of something.

"An Edelbrock cylinder head for a V-8 buggy engine."

Rufus spit out whatever he was drinking. "A _what_?"

"An Edelbro. . ."

"I heard you, but do you have any idea how hard those things are to come by?"

"I don't suppose you could machine one?"

There was silence on the other end. "It would take a while, but we could do it. Is that it?"

"Umm. . .no. I'm gonna need an entire cooling system for the same buggy."

There was an uncomfortable silence on the other end. "Did you drive it off a cliff?"

Kent smiled. "I was slightly tempted."

Rufus sighed. "Alright. . .I'll get that stuff asap."

"Thanks." Kent said, and closed the phone. He tucked it back into his pocket and took another drink off his birch beer. If there was one thing Kent was proud of, it was he was the self proclaimed eternal designated driver.

Kent smiled, finished off his drink, then stood up off the stool.

"It's about bloody time." Kent said, standing next to the buggy. The Shinra chopper finally landed next to the buggy, Rufus in the window, several boxes beside him.

"Oh, bite me." Rufus replied, jumping off the chopper. He was clad only in a set of grey coveralls. "I figured I'd help. I need to learn to fix these things, anyway."

"Right." Kent responded and took another box out of the chopper. The other two were the cooling system and all required components. "Let's get to work."

Rufus nodded, and opened the hood. "Good lord, Hartmann. . .what _did_ you do to this thing?"

"You _don't_ want to know. . . "

Rufus shook his head and opened a box. "Let's just get this over with. How long is this gonna take?"

"The cylinder head. . .maybe three hours. The cooling system. . .a day and a half."

Rufus looked in disbelief at Kent as the chopper flew off.  
"Well. . .let's get our hands dirty. . ." Kent said, rubbing his hands together.

"Oh, joy." Rufus said, sighing. What had he gotten himself into this time?

"So," Zack began, talking to Aerith across a table, "How's Kent been?"

"Well, he kinda. . .freaked out when we were coming here." Aerith replied. "It was like he was mad at me or something. He kinda had me scared."

"Oh, don't worry." Zack said. "The man's a pacifist. He wouldn't hurt a fly."

"Then why'd he join the air force?" Aerith asked.

"He has an immense sense of dedication." Zack replied. "He joined the Air Force. . .I'm not really sure, now that I think about it. Probably has something to do with what happened to Heidi."

"What happened?" Aerith asked.

"I'm not at liberty to say. If he wants you to know, he'll tell you." Zack darkly said.

Aerith nodded. "I imagine it was pretty bad."

"Yeah." Zack replied. "He was. . .well, that's in the past. I'm not gonna unearth that. I'll get depressed."

"I'll drop it, then." She said. "Anyway, back to the Air Force. . ."

"Well, that's about the whole story." Zack said. "Like I told Cloud, he doesn't have anyone back home. His brother's off doing lord knows what, his parents are dead, his friends are either on the carrier or who knows where. He seems pretty stable, but in reality, he's a jumble of emotions. I highly doubt even he knows what's going on upstairs anymore.

"But he has a fierce sense of respect for women." Zack continued, taking a drink of his soda. "He respects their every choice, even if it's a bad one, and he'll see it out to the end. That's what you have to look forward to in our good friend mister Hartmann."

Zack stood up. "Well, I'm gonna head up to the observatory, Red's extended an invitation to us to take a look at his father's 'apparatus'. I've already been up there, but it's quite spectacular. I'd suggest heading up before we leave."

"I think I'll join you." Aerith said, finishing off her soda.

"Almost. . .got it. . ." Kent said as both himself and Rufus pushed down on the torque wrench. With a metallic clang, the wrench told both of them the bolt was tightened to where it needed to be. However, the click also released the rachet mechanism, launching both of them into a heap on the ground.

"Y'know," Kent said after they untangled themselves from eachother and the wrench, "You're not too bad of a grease monkey."

"I may be the president of Shinra," Rufus said, wiping his forehead, "But I do know how to handle a wrench when I need to."

Kent nodded. "Well. . .we're about done. All that's left is to put the tubing on, fill it, and we'll be on our way."

"The sooner the better." Rufus replied. "Actually, that went really fast."

Kent nodded, and stood up. "Yeah. We'll be ready to go by tonight."

Rufus sighed. "Well. . .let's get working."

Kent nodded, and opened a box full of tubing of assorted sizes and and thicknesses. "Let's get this done."

_"Hello?" Aerith asked, floating. Just where and for what reason she didn't know. "Is anyone here?"_

_Slowly, the black haze that clouded her view melted away, revealing the lights of a city far below. She found herself standing in a lush field, although the darkness hindered her sight._

_"Fancy seeing you here." She heard Kent say, walking up beside her. _

_"Where are we?" Aerith asked._

_"This, Aerith, is where I'm from. This is my hometown, Spokane. Right now, we're standing on Brown's Mountain."_

_"It's so pretty," Aerith said._

_"Yeah. . .it's quite sobering." Kent replied. "It's kinda cold. . .want a jacket?"_

_"Sure." She replied. Kent took his red and grey letterman's jacket off and put it over her sholders. _

_"That should keep you warm." Kent said._

_"Thanks." Aerith replied. "What did you letter in?"_

_"Band." Kent said. "The Air Force paied my way through college, and that's how I got my music education degree."_

_"Wait. . ." Aerith began. . ."Why are you telling me this?"_

_"It's simple." Aerith heard a voice behind her, a deeper, slightly harsher voice. "He's just going to use you."_

_"Zack?" Aerith asked, spinning around. It was him, alright. . .in the same purple SOLDIER uniform, the same giant sword, the same black spikey hair. . .the same glowing, soft eyes._

_"Don't listen to him." Kent simply said. "He's not real."_

_"What?" Aerith asked. "He's not real?"_

_Zack laughed. "Neither is he."_

_Aerith looked between the two. "What. . .you're not making any sense. . ."_

_"Of course not." Kent said. "He's trying to confuse you. . ."_

_"Me?" Zack asked, pulling his sword from his sheath on his back. "YOU'RE the one who's trying to use her!"_

_Kent pulled the Hardedge from his back. "How did you get here, anyway?"_

_Zack scowled. "I have my ways."_

_Aerith looked in awe at the two men. "Stop this, right this instant!"_

_The two men ignored her as they leapt into battle with eachother. Aerith gasped as they flew at eachother, neither one wanting to loose._

_The scene was intense. _

_"And this is what your heart is battling over, isn't it?"_

_Aerith turned around to see her mother walking towards her. "I know this. I'm sorry I was so brief last time. . .there was somebody watching. . .it was the last ancient."_

_"You mean. . .you know who it is?" Aerith asked._

_"Yes, Aerith. I do." She replied. _

_Kent grunted as he blocked another vicious slice from Zack. _

_"The last ancient. . ."_

_Zack grunted as Kent slashed down at Zack._

_"Is. . ."_

_Kent swung once more, about to lodge the sword in Zack's ribs._

_But stopped._

_"I'm not going to kill you." Kent said, sheathing his sword. _

_"The last ancient is. . ."_

_Kent turned to face Aerith as Zack leapt to his feet and brought the Buster Sword to bear._

Aerith awoke to the sound of the buggy's engine and the air whooshing past. "Wh. . .where am I?"

"We didn't wanna wake you up," Cloud said, looking forward, "so we carried you to the buggy."

"Well. . .thanks." She said, sitting up.

"We passed the river about an hour ago." Tifa spacily said. "We'll be in Nibelheim in another hour."

"Nibelheim. . ." Aerith slowly said.

"Cloud told me the story." Kent said from the driver's seat.

"I see." Aerith said, moving to a seat.

"I wonder how much is left. . ." Tifa mused.

Cloud looked at what should have been the ruins of his hometown. "But. . .how. . ."

Kent looked at the small village of Nibelheim. "I thought this place was burned to the ground. . ."

"It. . .was. . ." Tifa murmered as the rest of the group left the buggy.

"Shinra cover up." Zack simply said, pulling his nine millimeter handgun from it's holdster. "We can't be too careful. We'd better travel in groups. I'll take Red and Barret."

Kent nodded towards Aerith. "I'll take Aerith and Cait."

That left Cloud, Yuffie, and Tifa. "Works for me." The ex-SOLDIER said.

"Alright then," Kent said, walking towards the larges building in Nibelheim - the Shinra Mansion. "Let's go."

Kent opened the door to the mansion. He was hit with the pungeant aroma of mold and dust, _almost_ overwhelming him.

There's nothing more powerful smelling than jet feul and exhaust.

"This place gives me the creeps." Cait said. "What are we looking for, anyway?"

"Don't know yet." Kent replied, pulling his sword out of it's sheath. "Sure is exiting, though, huh?"

Aerith sighed. "For the life of me, I'm never going to understand you."

"Never try to understand a fighter pilot." Kent said, walking towards a set of stairs. "You'll just hurt yourself."

Aerith looked at Kent quizzicially, then sighed. She never _would_ understand him. "I'm glad you're not the last ancient. I don't think I could live with you."

"Aerith, that hurts. Right here." Kent replied, tapping over his heart, jokingly. "How could you, you ancient hussy."

Kent turned a corner and found himself in a room with only a safe in it.

"Wherever there's a safe," Cait mused, coming up behind Kent, "There's treasure."

"Don't know the combo, though. . ." Kent said.

"Which means what?" Aerith asked.

"Real simple." Kent said, swinging his pack off one sholder. "We're gonna have to blast."

"Blast?" Aerith asked. Kent pulled out a brick of grey putty and a couple strips of nintey degree elbow panels.

"Blast." Kent said. "I stick the plastic explosive in this stuff here," Kent held up a piece of the stripping, "and then stick it on the door to the safe. It'll blow it right open."

"When did you get plastic explosives?" Aerith asked.

"Connections." Kent replied, kneeling by the safe. He set the stripping down and set about the task of getting the explosives ready to go. "This may take some time, so take a load off."

Kent worked quickly, humming tunelessly. As soon as he finished one of the strips, he'd tape it to the seam between the door and the body with a roll of white electrical tape he had with him.

Finally, he stood up and attached wires into each of the strips. "Alright. Now, this part's really easy. What we do is we find something big and heavy to hide behind and I blow 'em up."

"Umm. . ." Aerith began, "Is this safe?"

"Aerith. . .you're asking _me_ if this is safe. . ." Kent said. "Of _course_ it's not safe!"

Kent grinned as he pushed the button on the detonator. With a mammoth boom, he heard a sound not unlike that of a bullet getting shot through the wing of his F-18.

Then, he heard a growling sound. . .and it sounded pissed.

"This does _not_ bode well." Kent mused, suddenly realizing he left his sword by the safe. He came to the quick realization that it really didn't matter. The creature threw the sword down the stairs at them, the sword bent almost completely in half.

"I'm glad I didn't use the Hardedge. . ." Kent mused. Finally, the creature showed itself - a huge, bulbous creature, one half purple, another orange. Kent pulled his Desert Eagle from it's holdster and fired three rounds at the thing. He saw them impact, as clear as day, but nothing happened to the creature.

"Damn my lack of foresight!" Kent shouted as the others got into their fighting stances. They were about to have a very hard fight ahead of them. . .

Slowly, he stalked up the stairs, the reassuring weight of the gun in his hands. There was something going on upstairs and he wanted to know what was happening, and who had disturbed his slumber; his atonement.

He sighed. Yet another sin. He reached the top of the stairs and saw that three very unlucky people had waken up the Lost Number.

One of the people had mako eyes. . .were they Shinra?

It didn't matter if they were Shinra or not. The Lost Number had to die. With his good hand, he leveled his gun at the monster, ready to strike the young woman.

He felt the trigger ratchet down under his finger, producing an ear shattering explosion. Not even a second after that, the Lost Number squealed in pain.

Kent almost ducked as he heard the explosion. After that, the monster they were fighting reeled in pain, turning to show its wound.

That was a bad idea. Kent locked onto it with his eyes and fired three more bullets from his Desert Eagle into it, causing it only to shout more. With a final bullet, Kent watched as the monster died.

Aerith looked at Kent, her eyes filled with fear. "Kent. . .I want to leave."

"You are tresspassing."

Kent looked up to see where the baritone voice had come from. On the upper terrace, he saw a man oddly dressed in red and black. His left arm was adorned with a long golden glove, his right sported a fingerless glove, a smoking gun clutched in his hand.

But what was most odd about him was his long, black hair and his red eyes.

"Thank you." Kent said, walking up the stairs to greet the stranger.

"You are tresspassing." He repeated. "Please leave."

"Not a chance." Kent said, walking up next to him. "Not without thanking you for saving our lives."

"Well then," the man said, holstering his gun, "You are welcome. Now, please leave. I must atone for my sins."

"Wait." Kent said, catching the man's sholder as he turned to leave. "What's your name."

"My name is Vincent. . ." he began, looking into Kent's eyes. "You have ties with the Shinra, do you not?"

"Yeah, I do." Kent said. "I'm in the Air Force."

"Then do you know of a woman named Lucrecia?" Vincent asked, a hint of desperation in his voice.

"No, sorry, I don't." Kent replied. "Who's she?"

Vincent smiled. "She's Sephiroth's mother. . .but I suppose only a SOLDIER would know that. He was the son of a beautiful woman. . .and all I could do was watch. . .and that is why I must atone. . ."

Kent recalled something from the Shinra building. . .small, insignificant. . .a picture of Hojo with a woman who was drop dead georgeous.

"This has something to do with Hojo." Kent simply said.

Vincent turned around and looked Kent square in the eyes. "Are you going to meet Hojo?"

The image of Aerith being locked in the glass cylinder, a smile on Hojo's face surfaced itself. "Of course."

"Then I'm coming with you." Vincent said. "As I said, I am Vincent Valentine," Aerith and Cait were now flanking Kent, "Formerly of the Shinra Department in Weapons Research and Development. . .otherwise known as the Turks. I may be some help to this world after all. . ."

"Well, Vincent," Kent said, extending his hand, "I'm Kent Hartmann, freelance fighter pilot and sword fighter extrodanare. These here are my advocates, Aerith Gainsborough and Cait Sith."

"Pleased to meet you." Aerith said, smiling. Vincent nodded.

Cait Sith looked at the dark man and nodded. Vincent raised an eyebrow.

"Don't ask." Kent said, looking at Vincent's gun. "You may want something with a little more oomph behind it."

Kent whipped out his Desert Eagle and snapped the clip out of it. "Fifty caliber Desert Eagle." With a snap, Kent shoved the clip back in, flipped it so the barrel was in his hand, and extended it towards Vincent. "Go ahead."

Vincent took the gun, looked down the sight, then gave it an experimental spin. "Nice craftsmanship. . .sight's aligned. I thank you for letting me use such a well crafted weapon."

"Don't mention it." Kent said. "Let's meet up with the others."

"Not a thing. Not a damned thing. . ." Barret muttered, leaning against the well.

"Shinra cover up." Zack replied. "That's the only option."

"Of _course_ it is." Kent said, Vincent, Aerith, and Cait behind him. "Shinra shows up to solve a problem. What happens? The town's burned to the ground with only three survivors. Why _wouldn't_ they cover it up?"

"Well. . .look who's here." Cloud said, walking to the water tower, Tifa and Yuffie in tow.

"Oh, yeah. This guy's Vincent." Kent said, indicating Vincent. "He saved our lives."

Cloud nodded "Nice to have you on the team. . .I suppose."

"I assure you." Vincent began, "The pleasure will be all mine. . . once we find Hojo."

From time to time throughout his life, Kent had problems sleeping. They weren't major, but they consisted of his sleep schedule becoming lopsided, causing him to become nocturnal.

So he could sympathize with Vincent when he couldn't sleep.

"Sometimes, Vincent," Kent began, both of them leaning against the outside wall of the inn, "I wonder if women are worth it."

"Women are. . .very elusive creatures." Vincent coldly said, his arms crossed. "Sometimes, they cause much pain. Sometimes, they cause loss. . .sometimes,

they hurt you, more than words can express. . ."

"You've had women problems, I can tell." Kent solemnly said.

"Yes. . .Lucrecia. . ." Vincent said. "Hojo's living experiment. . .Hojo is the reason that I lost my arm."

"Your. . .arm?" Kent asked.

Vincent showed Kent his polished brass appendage. "This claw is a symbol of what I lost for Lucrecia. . .a symbol for my sins."

Kent nodded. "I don't have anything quite as extravagant as that. . ."

"Yes, you do." Vincent said, sighing, his breath casting out a white cloud in the brisk Nibelheim air coming off the frigid mountain. "I can tell you have scars on your heart."

"Scars on my. . .Heidi. . ."

Vincent nodded. "I can tell your heart aches from her loss."

Kent took his glasses off. "Yeah. . .but I love Aerith. . .

"Do you love her because she's like Heidi. . .or because you genuinely love her?"

Vincent had stumped Kent. He searched his heart. "I. . .I just don't know."

Vincent smiled. "Search your heart. It knows the truth."

"Vincent, I think you underestimate yourself." Kent said, putting his glasses back on. "You have a good heart. You may not know it, you may not think it, but you do."

Stretching, Kent began walking towards the Shinra Mansion.

"I'll go with you." Vincent said. "It's quite dangerous."

"Quite dangerous my ass!" Kent said, slashing hard to his left. "This is downright suicide!"

"The monsters have become more vicious." Vincent cooly said. "Something's upsetting them."

"Could it possibly be _us_?" Kent asked, ducking to avoid one of the freakish jack-o-lanterns floating by way of several white feathers attached to its bottom.

"Quite possibly." Vincent replied. "Follow me."

Vincent took off at a dead sprint down the dirt tunnel with a ghastly purple glow to it. Kent followed him, sidestepping a two headed zombie and another one of those jack-o-lanterns before emerging in a lab.

Occupied only by Vincent and Sephiroth.

"Sephiroth." Kent said.

"Ahh, yes. . .the newest of the family. . ." Sephiroth said, standing in a small hall, books surrounding him. "The same blood courses through our veins, you know."

Kent looked at Sephiroth. "That's crazy. I'm not even from this planet."

Sephiroth laughed. "That, young Hartmann, is what you think."

"That's what I _know_." Kent replied. "What are you doing here?"

"Your ancestors were not native to your planet." Sephiroth said, turning to face Kent. His eyes were the same hue of green as Aerith's, but they had a mako glow to them. . .

And they were as heartless and as cold as blocks of ice.

"Oh, no. . .they were imprisoned by the very people who inhabit this planet now, and taken, by force, to another planet. . ._your_ planet."

"Are you saying. . ." Kent began, backing off from Sephiroth. "That. . .my ancestors were _ancients_?"

"Not your ancestors," Sephiroth said, "Your entire planet. The irony is almost painful. . ."

Vincent looked at Kent, who seemed about ready to fly off the handle.

Kent drew the Hardedge once more. "You're lying."

Sephiroth laughed. "Why would I lie to my own brother?"

"I am _not_ your brother!" Kent shouted, dashing for Sephiroth. As he dashed at Sephiroth, Kent was suddenly stopped by a swift uppercut in the stomach. Dropping to the floor, Kent clutched his stomach in pain. Sephiroth dropped a piece of materia to his left and dashed out of the lab faster than even Vincent's eye could comprehend.

"Oh. . .dammit," Kent uttered, rolling onto his side. "Can you help me get to the inn?"

Vincent nodded, and helped Kent up.

_Kent sighed as the Hyundai finally wouldn't start. The engine block was cracked something awful, but they were only a couple blocks away from Kent's house._

_"You didn't have to do this, you know." Heidi said._

_"Yes, I did." Kent replied. "If something happened to you, I couldn't forgive myself, nor would your brother forgive me."_

_"I suppose you're right." Heidi replied. _

_"Alright, here we go."_

_Kent shifted the car into neutral and let gravity push the Hyundai down the hill leading up to his house._

_"You know, you really suprised me tonight."_

_"Oh really?" Kent asked._

_"Yeah. . .I never thought that a guy would go out of his way to protect little ol' me," Heidi replied, saying the last part with a southern accent and batting her eyelashes._

_"Well, little missy," Kent said in his best cowboy accent, "It's all in a day's work."_

_They both shared a laugh at that. "We may have to make this a regular thing. Me going to your dances, that is."_

_"Maybe," Kent said, "Maybe."_

_Kent looked in his rearview mirror as the car rolled to a stop. "Oh, no. Much badness."_

_"What?" Heidi asked._

_"The suburban's coming up right behind us."_

_Heidi looked at Kent. "Enough is enough."_

_Despite Kent's best efforts, she got out of the car and turned to look at the Suburban barreling towards them. _

_What happened next only took a couple seconds, but seemed to strech for hours in Kent's mind. He ran towards Heidi to try and get her out from between the Hyundai and the Suburban. _

_Just before he could get there, Kent watched as Heidi emitted an ear splitting scream as she was crushed between the front bumper of the Suburban and the trunk of the Hyundai. Seconds later, the police arrived, surrounding the area._

_The Hyundai rolled forward, letting Heidi drop to the ground. Wasting no time, Kent knealt to the ground and caught her before she could hit the ground._

_He checked desperately for a pusle, and barely found one. She was alive. . .but barely._

_"Kent. . ." She whispered. "I'm sorry. . .I was foolish. . ."_

_"No, it's my fault. I never should have invited you up here." Kent said._

_Heidi only shook her head. "Please, tell my brother and my parents. . .to not blame you. . ."_

_Kent watched as Heidi died in his arms on that night, not so long ago._

The Nibel Mountains reflected Kent's mood. The memories he tried to bury came back with a vengeance.

"Kent, are you okay?" Aerith asked. "You're a little quieter than usual."

"I'm fine." Kent replied.

"You don't seem fine to me." Aerith replied.

Vincent looked at her and ever so slightly shook his head. Aerith took the hint and stopped talking.

"Sometimes," Aerith began, walking next to Vincent, "I wonder what goes on inside his head."

"He is a very conflicted man." Vincent replied. "He bears scars on his heart. . ."

Aerith looked at him.

"He's been having trouble sleeping. . .he had a bad dream last night." Vincent said, his eyes turning towards Kent. "He dreampt of long buried memories. . .and that is why he is the way he is. My suggestion is to let him be for a while. He will not be himself for a while."

"I. . .see." Aerith simply said.

"He's strong." Vincent simply said. "He will not succumb to sadness so easily."

Aerith sighed. "It still hurts to see him like that."

"It will pass." Vincent said.

"I hope." Aerith replied.

Memories. Always the bad ones. Always the ones that brought pain, hurt, sorrow. Always. Never the happy ones anymore. But, such was life nowadays. He let his guard down, he got hurt.

Kent remembered one of Matt's better quotes: "Women _suck_!"

Something caught his attention. He couldn't quite place it. No. . .scuffling. . .

Something was following them. . .in the caves. . .it was in the caves. . .

Vincent stopped. He heard it, too.

Suddenly, with a god awful roar and what sounded like a stampede of bulls, a huge spider like creature ran at them from the cave.

With lightning quick reflexes, Vincent took aim with the Desert Eagle and fired off several rounds. Each one found it's target, but none of them stopped the creature.

Kent snapped out of his depressed stupor and brought the Hardedge around to bear. "Aerith, take cover!"

She nodded, and ran behind Kent, no doubt to the Nibelheim Reactor. She could hold up in there for quite some time.

Vincent was impressed. Before he could get any farther in depth, he rolled to his left, narrowly avoiding getting trampled by one of the thing's sharp feet. Rolling up to his knees, he took aim and took a couple shots at the thing, riddling its side with smoking holes.

But the creature didn't stop.

Kent swore as the thing charged him. He put an ugly scowl on his face. Just as the thing went to impale him on its horn, Kent leapt above its head and landed on its back.

He reeled back and took a hard swing with his sword, doing nothing to the creature's tough back scales.

"This ain't good!" Kent shouted, kneeling and grabbing onto one of the scales for all he was worth. He was going for a ride, rather he liked it or not.

The beast roared and took off at a dead run towards Vincent. With the swiftness of a fox, the dark man leapt out of the way of the odd creature and fired several shots at its backside.

"Could you please refrain from shooting at me!?" Kent wildly asked.

"I'm doing the best I can, under the circumstances!" Vincent cooly shouted back.

Kent shook hid head and took a couple more wild swings with the Hardedge. Man, this thing just wasn't working out.

"This won't end well!" Kent shouted, holding on for dear life.

Suddenly, the creature gave an earshattering roar and began bucking wildly. Loosing his grip, Kent let go, letting the Hardedge fly wherever it was going to land.

Kent himself hit the ground with all the grace and elegance of a sledgehammer, coaxing a rarely used profounity from him.

"Fuck!"

He shook his head and looked at the creature to see that Cloud had impaled it with the Buster Sword. From the belly of the beast was dripping what appeared to be a highly corrosive material of some sort, as it was melting the rock they were on fairly well.

Cloud pulled the sword out of the beast. At least, what was left of it. From the handguard, there was about six inches of the blade left.

But the creature was still alive, and looked pissed as hell.

Kent growled and made a mad dash for the Hardedge. The creature saw him running for his weapon and set a course to intercept.

"Not today!" Kent shouted, dove for the sword, and held it up. The creature ran right into it, splitting it's horn down the center and part of its skull.

"That," Kent began, "Has to be the luckiest break any of us have hit thus far in our journey."

"Rocket Town." Kent said. "How original."

"There's a rocket sitting in the middle of it. I think it's aptly named." Cloud replied.

Kent looked at Cloud. "There's a rocket."

"Yup."

"Sitting in the middle of a town."

"That's what I said."

Kent shook his head. "What is this world coming to. . ."

"Well, there was a test rocket sitting in the back of the church," Aerith said.

"Don't let me guess. The Shinra." Kent said.

"Mmm-hmm." Aerith replied, then sighed. "I suddenly miss Midgar. . .I haven't seen mom in a long time."

Kent nodded. "I still have yet to meet your mom."

"I don't think she'd like you." Aerith said. "She doesn't like me dating Shinra employees. Because of Zack. . ."

"Don't force it." Kent said. "Besides, I'm _not_ a Shinra employee. I'm just in the military."

Aerith shook her head. "Your eyes would give you away."

Kent smiled and snapped his sunglass lenses over his glasses.

"Those don't help. They shine through." Cloud said.

"Well, dammit." Kent said, putting the lenses away. "This is getting hard."

"Don't worry. Besides, I know you overheard Ryn. . ." Aerith began.

"Don't worry." Kent said. "I really don't care."

Aerith smiled and looked at Kent. "And I thought you'd go ballistic."

"Naa. . .that's actually why I was being. . .as mean as I was before we hit Cosmo Canyon. I went to the reactor to look for Yuffie, and I somehow got my hand stuck in some mako. . .and then I saw a vision. I saw you in your room. I heard. . ."

"You heard that!?" Aerith asked.

"Yeah. . . I didn't mean to. . ."

"How could you not have told me!?" Aerith asked. "Do you know what this means!?"

"No." Kent blatantly said. "I have no idea."

"It means that _you're_ the last ancient!"

Kent emptily looked at Aerith. "With my luck? Hardly."

"No, Kent, really!" Aerith said. "What's your blood type?"

"O positive." Kent replied.

"Only ancients have type O blood of any kind. Kent, you've gotta believe me!"

Kent spun to looked at Aerith, almost knocking Cloud and Vincent clear off their feet. "Aerith, I want to believe you, I honestly do. I know you're just trying to make me feel better. But please, spare me."

At this point, Aerith was almost in tears.

"What about that dull roar in the back of your head?"

Kent stopped dead in his tracks.

"How long have you been ignoring that? How about those healing powers, huh? How else could you have saved me from dying? I'll have you know that only ancients can do that! And now you're just going to turn your back on the truth? How could you?"

"I'm not ignoring it." Kent said, not turning around.

"Then what _are_ you doing!?" Aerith nearly screamed, walking up behind him.

Kent spun around, knocked Aerith off her feet, then grabbed her. "I'm waiting for the right moment."

Aerith couldn't help but laugh. "Why, you. . ."

"Always keep 'em on their feet," Kent said, smiling.

Kent laughed out loud. Sure enough, there was a rocket sitting smack in the middle of the town. "This is rediculous."

"Not if you think about it." Cloud said. "I mean, it's called _Rocket_ Town because it's got a _rocket_ in the middle of it"

"Eat it." Kent said. "I'm gonna look around a bit."

Vincent and Cloud nodded as Kent walked towards the rocket.

"Where did Aerith go?" Vincent asked.

Cloud looked around and saw that Aerith was nowhere in sight. He looked nervously at Vincent.

"Kent's not gonna be happy about this."

The rocket almost looked like a Saturn Five in a sad state of decay. It had a heavy list to one side and had a serious rust problem.

It reminded Kent of the Scout II he'd bought from Eric quite some time ago. Aah, that brought back memories.

Then again, so did the blue streak of swears he heard coming from the rocket. It reminded him of his dad working on the car. And so did the ball peen hammer that came soaring down from above.

Kent made a quick crab step to avoid getting a hard hit in the head. Marching had its advantages, the crab step being one of them.

Kent shook his head and climbed up the ladder. From the ladder there was a platform, which then lead into the rocket. The man who was repairing the rocket stepped outside, threw off his brown work glove, and stuck his red thumb in his mouth.

Kent smirked. "I'd give you an eight point six on the profounity area."

The man looked at him. "Who the hell're you!?" He shouted.

"I was just admiring this rocket." Kent said.

"No kidding, huh?" He said.

"Nope." Kent said, extending his hand towards the man. "Kent Hartmann, U.S. Air Force."

Cid nodded and extended his hand. "Cid Highwind, pilot."

"Anyway, tell me about this thing." Kent said.

"Ahh, yes." Cid said. "Oh, damn, it musta been about four years ago, when Shinra was still interested in space exploration, they built this, the Shinra twenty-six. For the pilot they chose me, the best pilot in Shinra. . .naa, the world. I mean come on. . ."

He looked up towards the sky, his eyes dreamy.

"But that dumbass Shera fucked it up!" Cid yelled, almost sending Kent plummeting off the platform. "After the launch failed, they scrapped the project and went straight to mako power!"

Cid's sholders sank. "My last hope is to talk to the president. . ."

"Tiny Bronco. . .this is cool." Cloud said, looking at the small, prop driven plane.

"Excuse me."

Cloud spun around on his heel to face a bespectacled woman, her hands on her hips, looking at Cloud and Vincent.

"Uhh. . .umm. . ."

"Pardon us." Vincent said. "We were wondering if we could borrow this."

The woman nodded. "I'm Shera. And just who're you?"

"I am Vincent. This is my partner, Cloud."

"Shinra?" Shera asked.

Vincent shook his head.

"Ahh, that changes things. Come on in."

Cloud looked at Vincent. He tried to find words to say something, but in the end shook his head.

As Shera led Cloud and Vincent into the house, Cid and Kent walked in.

Cid looked at Shera. "What are you, blind! We have guests! Go make some tea!"

"Y-yes."

Shera walked over to the sink and began to make tea for them.

Kent looked at Cid. "Wasn't that a little. . .umm. . ."

Cid gave Kent a look that could shoot down a MiG-29 from a mile away.

"Nevermind."

"Arg! Damn, I'm pissed!"

Kent hung his head. This wasn't good.  
"I'll be in the back, tuning up the Tiny Bronco."

Kent waited until Cid left the house and closed the door with a slam. "I'm sorry about that. . .that would be my fault."

"No," Shera said, looking at Kent. "He's always like this."

Kent's eyes went as wide as saucers. "He's _always_ like that?"

"Yes. . .it's because I destroyed his dreams. . ."

Kent's mouth was tied in knots. He fumbled for words. He couldn't find words at all. The only words running through his mind were "divorce" and "harrasment siut".

"You see, when the rocket was going to be launched, I was still in the engine compartment, checking the oxygen tanks. I told him to take off while I was still there, even though I would have died. He cancelled the launch, to save my life. . .so I owe him."

Kent sat down and took his glasses off. He rubbed his eyes and put his spectacles back on. "Y'know what, I'm gonna go in back and help Cid with the Tiny Bronco.

"By the way, where's Aerith?"

Cloud looked at Kent. "Umm. . ."

"Okay, let me run this by you really fast. The Shinra is coming here. Today. And Aerith is out there. Alone."

Cloud shook his head.

Kent sighed in exasperation and got up. "I swear, there must be _nothing_ in that head of yours."

With that, Kent left, looking for Aerith.

"It's not the best idea to be out here alone, y'know." Kent said, walking up behind Aerith.

"Oh, I'm alright." Aerith replied. "Besides, I'm not alone anymore."

"Here, c'mon. The Shinra's gonna show up, and if you're alone out here, they're gonna snag 'ya."

As if on cue, Rufus's chopper soared overhead.

"Let's go."

By the time Kent and Aerith got back to town, Cid and Rufus were discussing. . .rather, yelling over borrowing the Tiny Bronco.

Quietly, Kent and Aerith hopped over the fence containing the small plane, only to discover Palmer, trying to start the plane.

"Hold it right there, fat man." Kent called, drawing the Hardedge from it's sheath.

Palmer looked in his general direction and jumped down from the plane, pulling a gun from his belt. He fired a shot at Kent, who brought the broad side of the Hardedge to block the glowing bullet.

The bullet hit the side of the sword, sending lightning energy flowing through it, rendering it useless. Kent dropped it.

"Kent!" Aerith shouted, tossing Kent a katana in a wooden sheath. Kent caught it by the handle and swung the sword behind him, casting the sheath off behind him somewhere.

Aerith grabbed her staff and ran up next to Kent, but not before knocking Palmer down, hitting the back of his knee with her staff.

"That was a dirty trick!" Palmer shouted, loading another shell into his break action pistol. He was knocked clear off his feet with a mammoth explosion.

Kent looked behind them, seeing Vincent, Desert Eagle drawn. "He's wearing a bullet proof vest."

Kent grimaced. While Palmer was getting up, Kent dashed up to him and took a mighty swing. Palmer went to block with the gun and only succeeded in the gun getting cut off at the loading point. No, Kent had actually cut _through _the bullet.

The bullet exploded, catching the attention of everyone in a fifty foot radius.

"This is gonna get ugly. C'mon!"

Kent leapt onto the plane and got into the cockpit. "Okay, pitot heat, magneto, feul flow. . .ignition!" He pushed a button with his thumb and the whole setup began to rumble to life. The props started turning and the plane started moving. Aerith leapt onto the wing and took a firm hold of a bar holding the engine on, while Vincent anchored himself to the front portion of the wing and grabbed Aerith's other hand.

"Hold on!" Kent shouted as the plane lifted off the ground. The response was nice and sharp, almost like that of the F-22, even with Vincent and Aerith causing drag on the wing.

Kent maneuvered the plane between the support structure and the rocket, narrowly avoiding clipping one of the props and sending them into the ground.

Meanwhile, Cid watched this whole scene take place. As the Tiny Bronco soared overhead, Cid ran towards it and managed to grab ahold of Aerith's leg while Kent pulled up. The Shinra soldier fired at the plane, despite Rufus's protests.

"You know how to fly this thing?" Cid asked, climbing up onto the wing.

"Of course! This is what I learned on! Well, something similar to this, anyway. . ."

Suddenly, Kent felt the plane getting riddled with bullets. Out of sheer instinct, he tilted the plane to the left and pulled up hard, nearly sending everyone overboard.

"What the hell're you doing!?" Cid shouted, barely holding on.

"That was instinct!" Kent replied as he felt the plane begin to sputter out. "This is gonna get ugly. . ."

"Yeah, no kidding! Hold onto your drawers and don't piss 'em!"

Kent held onto the plane the best he could, trying to drop it in the water. Aerith and Vincent climbed atop the wing just as the plane hit the water, dousing all of them in icy cold water.

"Shit!" Kent shouted, whipping his hands downward. "This is cold stuff."

Kent looked back at Aerith, then at the control panel. He quickly did a double take. What Aerith said about her dress going transparent was very true. Kent saw more than an eyeful.

Kent quickly stood up and dove into the icy water.

"Kent?" Aerith asked.

"Yes?" Kent asked, his head popping out from the water.

"What are you doing?" Aerith said.

"Look at yourself."

She looked down and let out a little chirp, bringing her knees to her chest.

Vincent chuckled, undid his cloak and handed it to Aerith. She graciously nodded and slipped it on over her head and draped it over herself like a blanket.

"Well, how's it look from down there?" Cid asked.

"Well. . ." Kent began, swimming around the plane, "I can tell you that the bullets only did minor damage, nothing big. I think it just hasn't been running enough. Basicially, it stalled. We're gonna have to pull it out of the water and see if we can work it like that. Until then, it can work as a boat. The props'll turn with electric power, which is all you have now."

Cid sighed. "You going to go after the Shinra?"

"At some point, yeah." Kent replied.

"Well, hell. Sign me up!"

Kent nodded. "Welcome aboard."

The night air was cold, and floating at sea on the Tiny Bronco was _not_ the way to go. Aerith was shivering uncontrollably; the only warmth she had was what was left of Vincent's body heat from his cloak. Cid had offered to let her use his jacket, but she'd declined.

Kent sighed, floating through the water, holding onto the wing, looking at just what had happened to the plane.

"Any luck?" Cid asked.

"Nope." Kent replied, lifting himself onto the wing. From his pack he pulled the band uniform overalls and the white shirt he was issued. They were comfortable, and, most of all, warm.

He looked at Aerith, who was shivering. "Aerith, are you _sure_ you're okay?"

"Yes. . .I'm fine. . ." She said through chattering teeth.

Kent shook his head and hauled out his heavy weight flight jacket he kept in his planes. "Put this on. It'll keep you warm, trust me."

"Kent, I feel fine." Aerith replied.

"You'll feel fine until hypothermia sets in. After that, bad things start to happen. This is the best thing for you right now."

Aerith sighed and put on the black leather jacket under Vincent's cloak.

"Was that so hard?" Kent asked, putting his glasses back on. Aerith hmph'ed and turned towards Vincent, hoping to strike up a conversation.

"So, we close to anything?" Kent asked Cid.

"We are exactly fourteen whosawhatits from Wutai."

"That's some exact measurement." Kent replied. "Any idea how many miles?"

"Nope."

"Klicks?"

"Nope."

"Knots?"

"Nada."

Kent sighed. "It's times like this I really miss being on the carrier. . . are we getting anything on the radio?"

"Nope." Cid said. "Were out here alone."

"In other words, we're drifting." Kent stated more than asked.

"Yeah." Cid said, lighting up a cigarette. "Could be two hours from Wutai, could be two weeks."

The sun burst over the mountains in a blaze of orange and yellow, making the eastern sky somewhat purple, and making the clouds a shade of purple as well.

"The sunrise sure is pretty." Aerith said.

"Yup." Kent said, his arms crossed in a sesperate attempt to keep warm. He'd given Aerith his jacket so she could keep warm, but now he was cold.

It was all in the cards, though. _Chivalry is all but dead_, he thought. "I remember my first mission. . .I remember taking off in a sky just like this. . .oh, it was a day to behold. . .me and Zack were fresh outta boot camp. . .we were escorting a tanker across the ocean to Korea. . .that was the mission I earned the title G-man. . ."

_"This isn't supposed to happen on our first mission!" Kent shouted, his hands shaking like mad. The MiG-29 behind them had the upper hand in maneuverability and speed. About the only thing that Kent and Zack had the upper hand in was, well, gas. _

_In short, they were pretty much screwed._

_"Dammit, Joker two to Joker one, I need some help!" Kent shouted, jinking hard left, pulling a modest four G's. _

_"Joker two to Joker one, no can do, I've got my own problems to deal with."_

_Kent swore. "Zack, how're you doin' back there?"_

_"I've had better days!" Zack replied._

_Kent agreed. He shoved the stick down, trying to get the enemy fighter off his tail. Suddenly, an alarm went off in the cockpit._

_"Holy shit! Kent, they have lock!" Zack shouted._

_Kent swore and ejected some chaff. _

_"Missile launch!"_

_Kent gasped and ejected three more bundles of chaff before taking his engines all the way down to idle and diving downwards. Zack swore as the missile exploded barely off their tail._

_"How're we looking?" Kent asked._

_"We've seen better days. . .there's some tail damage, but we look good otherwise. Luckily, our friend's run out of missiles and he's coming on with guns."_

_"Still not what I'm looking for. . ."_

_Kent got an evil grin on his face. "Zack, I suggest holding onto your stomach. This is gonna get ugly."_

_"No. . ." Zack began._

_"Yes!" Kent replied, slamming the plane into afterburners. He turned the plane all the way onto it's left side and pulled up hard. He waited for the MiG to get behind him, then turned to the right and did the same thing. The MiG kept up well, but Kent knew something the pilot probably didn't._

_The MiG would bend. His F-18 wouldn't._

_"Kent, what the hell're you doing!?" Zack asked, groping for handholds while the F-18 tilted in directions Zack didn't know were possible._

_"Saving our asses!"_

_Kent flipped the plane completely upside down and pulled up on the stick, sending them groundward, towards the water._

_"Jesus Christ, Kent!" Zack shouted. _

_Kent grinned as he pulled up hard on the stick and let down on the power. Zack yelled as the plane leveled out barely twenty feet off the water, the plane's slipstream kicking up a spray of water behind them, hiding them from the MiG._

_Zack gasped for breath. "Good god, Kent!"_

_"We ain't done yet." Kent replied, gripping the handle even tighter._

_"No. No, no, no." Zack chanted._

_"Hang on tight!"_

_Kent pulled up hard on the stick, selecting afterburners, dropping his centerline tank. Kent watched in his rearview mirror as the tank dropped nearly into the air intake of the MiG, trying to chase him. The tank went into the air intake, and exploded, riddling the engine with shrapnel and sending flames out of both the front and the back of the plane. The shrapnel shredded vital hydrolic lines, but, suprisingly enough, didn't blow the MiG apart. Rather, the fighter's tail got locked into it's position. At the speeds the MiG was going, and pulling up that hard, Kent watched with glee as the MiG nearly folded itself in half and dove into the ocean in a spray of metal and water._

_"Splash one." Kent cockily said._

_"No shit." Zack replied. "If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I woudn't believe it."_

_"Joker one, how're you doing?"_

_"Currently, I'm shitting myself." _

_Kent laughed. "C'mon, let's take this beast home."_

"Wow." Aerith almost whispered, her eyes filled with wonder.

"Now that's somethin'." Cid said, his chin in his hands, a cigarette between his lips.

"Yeah. . .I remember getting chewed out hardcore. . .of course, at that time, I was about out of gas, so I had to do something unprecidented. . .a landing on an aircraft carrier. . .without an arresting hook."

_"Joker two, say feul."  
Kent looked at his feul gadge and gave a choked yelp. "Shit, two thousand pounds, and I'm loosin' it fast. . .my tank musta gotten a hole in it."_

_"Umm. . .Joker Two, you've got two options. You can eject way the hell out here, or - and I don't suggest this - you can try and set that thing down on a carrier."_

_Zack grimaced. "No, Kent. No way in hell."_

_"Yes." Kent replied. "Where is this thing?"_

_"Umm. . .twenty kilcks forward."_

_Kent grinned. "Get me the radio freqency for this thing."_

_Zack shook his head and called up the radio freqency. _

_"U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, this is Joker Two of Full Force flight."_

_"Joker Two, this is the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, we read you."_

_"I've got a low feul emergency and I need to patch a hole in a tank. I'm requesting permission to come aboard."_

_"Permission granted." _

_Kent nodded and extended his landing gear, flaps, and arrestor hook._

_At least, what was left of it._

_Kent saw the aircraft carrier. The five lights behind the Landing Signal Officer were lighting up._

_"Joker Two, you're missing an awful lot of your arresting hook."_

_Kent sighed. "Just like those flight sims. . ."_

_Kent pushed the stick down, putting him about level with the landing deck of the aircraft carrier._

_"Joker Two, you're way low! Pull up!"_

_Kent held his breath as he crossed the deck and his wheel caught the first arresting wire._

_The LSO looked at the F-18 in awe. ". . .one wire. . ."_

"That was when they decided to stick us in a Navy exchange program. Because of that, here we are. . ."

Cid's cigarette almost rolled out of his mouth. "You. . .you did _what_!?"

Kent smirked. "Yup. That's somethin', ain't it?"

"It is. . ." Aerith said, looking at Kent in wonder.

"Of course, that's not my craziest. It actually probably happened right when we got here. I tucked the F-22 in between the plates, then under Sector 7 as it was falling. As a result, about six inches of my tail was bent. Somehow, I limped it up onto Sector 4, and, well. . .here we are. Again."

"I _thought_ that was you!" Aerith said. "Only you'd be crazy enough to do something like that!"

Kent nodded. "Oh, yeah."

"That was all over the Shinra news." Cid said. "Said some crazy pilot got amnesia, then went mercentary. I shoulda known it woulda been one of you numbskulls!"

Kent chuckled. "Man, I can hardly wait 'till we hit the Golden Saucer again. . .boy, do I have a suprise for you." He pointed at Aerith.

"Me? You shouldn't have. . ."

Kent looked behind Aerith. "Wow. . .ain't that somethin'. . .

Aerith looked behind her. "The Wutai mountains. . ."

At long last, the group had finally found land again. After what seemed like hours, they finally sat down and set up camp. After a long sleep and a new dawn, they woke up refreshed and sitting around a campfire, Kent cooking what little rations he had left. He'd have to get new ones in Wutai. . .

Aerith looked sadly at the carved Da Chau mountans. "I wonder what mom's husband was like. . .I wonder if that was the last thing he saw. . ."

Cid looked at Aerith. "He was. . .killed in the Wutai war, wasn't he?"

Aerith nodded. "That was a long time ago. . . mom cried an awful lot that day. . .it mad me so sad. . ."

Kent nodded. "I know that story. My brother was a mess at the feuneral service for my parents. It kinda rubbed off on me a little. . ."

Kent looked into the starry sky, and sighed. "Five years have come and gone, and not a day goes by I don't think of her. . .how I could have saved her. How she was so ruthlessly killed. . .and how understanding her parents were. . ."

"Kent. . .I never knew." Aerith said.

Kent took a deep, shaky sigh. "The police officers had seen the whole thing. They got put away for life with a slight possibility of perole. But still. . ."

Kent shook his head. "She's dead. There's nothing I can do about it. I never thought I could forgive myself. . .that's why I pushed myself. When I marched Cavaliers, I weighed two hundred and thirty pounds. When I came out, one eighty. And I never gave up. I was the best drummer there, even if I _was_ only on bass drum. I remember distinctly. . .my parents at finals that year. . .along with Heidi's parents, and Eric. . .they were all so proud of me. . .even if I was utterly disgusted with myself. . .all I remember was the thought that I was responsable. . .that it was my fault. . .that. . ."

"Kent, stop." Aerith said, looking at him.

Kent looked at Aerith. "Sorry. . .it's just that brings up a lot of memories. . .both good and bad."

"Well, how 'bout some good memories?"

A grin crept onto Kent's face. "Oh, let's see. . .there was the time when Rob, our tuba player, found the only hole in the field. . .he took a nasty spill, and his tuba went a hell of a long way. The thing was so damned dented. . .I'm just glad I wasn't him. Let's see. . .There was the time when. . ."

Kent felt in the handle of his sword, the Yoshiuki. "When. . ."

Funny. . .he could have _sworn_ he stuck a couple of pieces of materia in there last night. . .

"When. . ."

Kent looked at Vincent's gun. Now, Kent wasn't stupid, and he knew Vincent always kept a fire materia and a restore materia handy. But both of the green orbs were gone. And the only person who'd steal - Yuffie.

"When Yuffie stole our damned materia!"

Aerith quickly took out her staff and looked at the empty materia slot. She gasped. "It _is_!"

"Welcome to the most populated city in the world, also the biggest tourist city in the world." Cid said. "Finding Yuffie in this mess is going to be next to impossible."

Kent sighed as he tried to finger the Hardedge, which was now what seemed to be a world away. All over, pagodas sprang like weeds, there were people everywhere, and, the best part of all, Aerith had gotten the PHS stolen from her pocket.

Not like it was her fault, but it still make Kent mad to a certain extent. "Well, it's not gonna do us much good if we just stand here and look like idiots. Let's get some searching done."

"I agree." Vincent said. "Cid, you and I will go together."

"Why not you an'. . .ohhh. . .I get it. . ." Cid said, looking at Kent and Aerith. "Well, you two lovebirds have fun. We'll meet right here, every hour, on the hour."

Kent nodded. "See 'ya then."

"Ahh. . .this is heaven. . ." Reno said, taking a shot of vodka, then shuddering. "Damn, this Wutai stuff is strong."

Rude nodded his head.

"Don't have to worry 'bout the Shinra, Cloud 'n' his buddies, just sit back, relax, and drink our problems away. . ."

Elena sat across from Rude, her chin in her hands. "Shouldn't we be after Sephiroth or something?" She asked.

"Elena, Elena, Elena. . ." Reno began. "Right now, we're _off_ the job. That means don't worry about anything and get falling down drunk."

Elena sighed. "I'll never understand you. . ."

Reno laughed. "Few do, my dear. Few do."

"Shiiiiiiiiiit. . ." Rude murmered.

Reno looked in the direction of his comrade and swore as he saw three soldiers walk up to him.

"Sir." One soldier began. "We believe we've found our target, and we're requesting your help to apprehend him."  
"Well then, buzz off." Reno said, taking another shot of his vodka. "'Cause we're on vacation."

"But Reno!" Elena began. "This is our job!"

"Na-ah." Reno said. "I ain't budgin'."

"Fine then, I'll help them!" She said, and ran out with the soldiers.

Rude stood up to follow her and almost toppled over in his falling down drunk state.  
"Let 'er go." Reno said. "She's a big girl now. She can handle herself."

"Still no sign of Yuffie." Kent said, sighing. "This is almost useless. . ."

Aerith sighed herself. "Maybe she was the spy."

"Wouldn't hold it past her." Kent spat.

"Find anything?" Cid asked, walking to the archway.

"Not a damned thing." Kent replied.

"Well, we found her and followed her for a while, but we lost her." Vincent said.

Kent nodded. "You checked the bar?"

"Nope." Cid replied.

Kent shook his head and began walking in the general direction of the bar. "Then she's gotta be here. Let's go."

Reno took a drink of his whiskey, and looked through the amber haze and the bottom of the glass at Kent walking into the bar. "Well, well, well. What have we here?"

Kent sighed, and sat before the firey-haired Turk. "Long time no see."

Reno simply nodded. Rude appeared too smashed to do anything but look at his gloved hand. "Need something, or do you just wanna shoot the wind?"

"Naa, I need something." Kent replied, cracking his knuckles as he often did when he had nothing worthwhile to do with his hands. "You seen our annoying ninja girl around?"

"Nope." Reno said, setting his glass down. "And I thank god every day for that. Now git."

Kent stood up, brushed off his white T-shirt, then turned around, his hand on the handle of his katana. He was learning never to turn his back on someone without ready access to a sword.

"We'll be in touch." Kent simply said, and with that, stepped out of the bar.

"God. . .damn." Rude said. "Now even the booze tastes bad. . ."

Reno shook his head. "Don't worry about it. Kent knows there's no score to settle. He's neutral."

Kent shook his head. Something here wasn't adding up. Yuffie just dissapears with their materia, then she can't be found. "Ugh. . .maybe we could stage a widescale search of the continent. . .but the Shinra don't like us that much anymore. . ."

He spun on his heel to see a giant statue before him. In frustration, he kicked it.

"Ouch!"

He went to kick it again, then stopped. "Hey. . .guys. . .I think I found something!" Kent called. The group walked up to where he was looking at the statue.

"What?" Aerith asked.

Kent kicked the statue again. This time, there was no sound, but the head of the thing bobbled a little bit. He looked at Cid, then Vincent, then nodded. They ran to the only exits, and stood their ground.

With all his might, Kent kicked the statue, causing it to roll onto it's side, sending Yuffie spilling onto the ground. She looked at Kent and took off at a dead sprint, nearly running full bore into Vincent. She swore and sprinted again, almost sending herself sprawling into Cid.

Yuffie looked around and saw that all her vieable options were gone.

"Aww, dammit!"

"Alright. All of it." Kent sternly said to Yuffie, who looked like she was about to start crying.

"Alright, alright, it's just. . ." Yuffie began, then started sobbing uncontrollably. "After the war, we lost everything, even our materia trade! I. . .I just wanted to help. . ."

"I didn't come here for a history lesson. Materia. Now."

"Alright, alright. . ." She said, turning her back on him. "Just pull. . .the lever on the right. . ."

Kent looked across the room and saw that there was, indeed, two levers on a console in the wall. How odd.

Cid, Vincent, and Aerith looked at him. He certainly was stern with her. Maybe all she really needed _was_ some help. . .  
Kent pulled the lever. With a crash, a cage surrounded Vincent, Cid, and Aerith.

"Ha! I can't believe you bought that load of bull!" Yuffie shouted, running out of the house.

Quickly, Kent pulled the left lever, raising the cage. As it rose, he took off at a dead sprint after the young girl. "Get back here!" He shouted, running into the streets. But it was too late, as she had already dissapeared into the crowds. Cid walked up behind him.

"She gone?"

Kent simply nodded. He sighed, and adjusted his black cotton jumpsuit. This simply wasn't going the way he wanted it to. "What I wouldn't give for access to something that could fly right about now. . .maybe something that I could track her with. . ."

He mindlessly walked up to where a giant bell sat, and tried to lean against it. The katana on his back hit the bell with more force that he had intended, ringing the bell. He heard something that sounded like a door opening.

"Hey! There's an opening!" Aerith shouted.

"Well, head in!" Kent shouted, pulling the katana and jumping down to where Aerith was. He ran into the doorway and saw several people in the room. One of them was morbidly obese, sporting a blonde mohawk and a cigar in his mouth, wearing nothing but a red velvet robe and a pair of bluejeans. His two flunkies wore varied stages of stereotypical pimp gear, one of them sporting a pink mohawk, the other having a normal haircut.

"It's Don Corneo." Aerith whispered into his ear.

Kent smiled and nodded. He rushed into the room, brandishing his sword dangerously. "Hey! What're you guys doing!?"

Corneo, the fat one, turned to look at him. Behind him, his flunkies carried Yuffie and Ellena up a set of stairs. "Who the hell're you?"

"Kent Hartmann, leader of the Wutai police squad. The jig's up. Come with me."

Corneo looked at him, a worried look on his face. "Well. . .you'll never get me alive!"

With that, he waddled up the stairs.

"God. . .dammit!" Kent began, running up the stairs, his sword in his right hand. He crested the stairs and ran smack into a Shinra soldier.

The blue clad commando looked at him, bemuddled for a second. "Wait! Aren't you. . ."

The soldier snapped to attention.

"At ease. Leave the rest to me." Kent said, dismissing the soldier. Vincent and Cid followed, weapons drawn, Aerith behind them.

Kent sighed, and put the Hardedge in its sheath on his back. "There's no way this can end well. . ."

Reno looked at his hand. Odd, it had never blurred like that before. . .

"Hey, Reno," Rude began, sobering up a little after his prarie oyster, "I think. . .I think we're about to have company. . ."

Reno had to compliment Rude. It took some major skill to swallow one's own vomit. He turned towards the door and saw his partner was right, Kent was walking with Aerith, Vincent, and Cid behind him.

"Well. . .what have we here?" Reno asked.

"Well," Kent began, stopping in front of the blue clad slighty drunk Turk, "We've got a problem."

"Really. And what _is_ this problem, pray tell?"

"Some dude has Elena and Yuffie."

Reno took a sip of his drink. His intoxicated brain finally connected the sentince and he spat out the amber colored whiskey.

"It would seem this is coming back and biting us in the ass." Reno said, his intoxication finally wearing out. "Alright, we'll help. You know who it is?"

"Don Corneo." Aerith replied.

Reno shook his head. "Great. Juuuust great. Rude, we're movin' out. C'mon."

Rude stood up, took a second to get the room to stop spinning about him, then shakily followed his partner out of the room.

Kent watched the two Turks exit the room.

"Maybe that wasn't the best course of action. . . well. . .let's go."

Reno rolled across the stone hand, blocking a violent slash from Corneo's latest monster, Rapps. Its precursor, Apps, had been dispatched by Cloud just before the sector seven plate came down.

The fighting had definitely sobered Reno up quick. It always had. Of course, it also helped that there was more at stake, here. Ellena and Yuffie were tied helpless to the mountainside, and Corneo, the horny bastard that he was, chose one, dumped the other off the face of the cliff. He wasn't too worried about Yuffie. It was Ellena he was worried about. Having her splattered at the bottom of a Wutai mountain range wouldn't sit well with Rufus one bit, especially with the way he was now. . .Kent had just run off with the Tiny Bronco, AVALANCHE had gotten away. . .things were rough for the young president.

Reno stood up and snapped the winged creature's leathery hide with his nightstick, causing several thousand volts to sear through the creature's body. It roared in protest and nearly sent him off the edge.

The Turk held on for all he was worth, barely catching his beloved nightstick between his feet. He managed to pull himself up onto the stone platform and took a second to reassert himself. Rude appeared to be having an equally hard time himself.

The creature took a violent swing at the bald Turk, nearly sending him over the edge. Reno barely even caught his partner before he was sent to a grizzly death.

"This isn't going well." Reno simply said.

As soon as he said it, he watched as the winged creature seemed to almost. . .fall apart. In two clean pieces. The thing slipped off the edge, revealing Kent, his sword in hand. Behind him stood Aerith, her staff drawn, Cid and Vincent behind her, their weapons brandished as well.

Corneo looked at the youn air force liutenant. "Why you. . .Rapps was like a son to me! A large, scaley son, but a son nonetheless. . ."

Reno lifted himself up onto the platform, letting Rude climb up as well. He picked up a stray rock and threw it directly at Corneo, hitting him square in the forehead. He took a couple steps backward and slipped off the hand. He barely caught the edge.

Reno smiled. It was time for Corneo's own tricks to catch up to him. "Okay, Corneo, a couple questions. Why do you think we'd take time out of our day to take care of slime like you. Either A, we have nothing better to do, B, we're sure we'll win, or C, we're drunk out of our skulls?"

"Umm. . .it's B! It's gotta be B!"

"Wrong!" Rude shouted, zapping Corneo's hand, sending him off the cliff and into oblivion with a high pitched shout.

"Rude, would you mind telling the others what the correct answer was?"

Rude brushed himself off and straightened his tie. "Because it's our job."

Kent looked at the Turk. "Aren't you off today?"

Reno shrugged as his phone simultaneously rang. He picked it up. "Yes. Yes. We'll be on it right away. Yes sir." He closed the phone and sighed.

"We're supposed to find the ancient."

Aerith tensed up as Reno walked up to them. Reno looked at Kent, then Aerith, then took a step closer, somewhat shoving Kent out of the way.

Reno grinned, jostled Aerith's hair, and straightened her jacket. "But today, we're off." With that, tue Turk walked down the trail, leaving Rude to get the girls out of their predicement.

Kent inspected the katana. Inscribed in the blade was the word "Yoshiuki", he guessed that was the name of the sword. He slipped it back into the sheath used for the Hardedge, and laid across the wings of the Tiny Bronco, quickly floating through the water. The wind jostled his hair and wafted the smell of sea air into his nostrils.

He felt his chin and realized he hadn't shaved in nearly two weeks, resulting in a rather greusome beard. He shrugged and put his hands behind his head and crossed his legs. Now this was comfort. . .

And Yuffie was rescued, and they had their materia back. Aerith had taken some time to teach Kent how to use the magic allowing spheres, so he was now a fairly formidable opponent, both on the magic and physical front.

Yuffie sat on the end of the tail, dragging her bare feet in the water, her shoes sitting a little ways up on the tail. She had _almost_ done it. . .if it hadn't been for that damned Corneo. She wondered if they were still mad at her. . .naa. . .they couldn't be. . .

"Hey, how long 'till we get there?" She asked.

"_Shut up_!" Came the shout from the rest of the group.

"Maybe they can. . ." she murmered to herself.

"So. . .what kind of a suprise do you have for me?" Aerith asked Kent, laying her head next to his, her laying the opposite direction of him.

"If I told you, it wouldn't be much of a suprise, now, would it?" Kent replied. "I'll just say you'll like it a lot."

"You'd better believe it," Cid murmered, turning towards the couple. He'd shoved a pole against the control stick, forcing the plane turned boat forward. "After the work this psyco wants us to do, I'd hope you like it."

"You mean. . .you're in on it, too?" Aerith asked.

"Yup." Kent said, a smile crossing his lips, his hands still stroking his scraggly face and neck. "There's a lotta people in on it that you didn't know were."

"Ooh, now I'm exited." Aerith said.

"That was the plan," Kent replied, stretching across the wing and yawning. "Y'know what sounds really good right now?"

"Something to eat?" Yuffie asked.

"Shut up!" Kent shouted at her. She looked back into the water, sulking.

"I was about to say a nap sounded really good." Kent finished, taking his glasses off, and putting them in their case. With that, he got into his preferred sleeping position - on his right side, his right arm under his head, his left arm wherever it ended up, his right leg straight out, and his left leg curled up on top of that.

"You sleep wierd." Aerith said, producing a blanket from her pack and putting it over him. He curled up in it and smiled.

"Thanks, Aerith." Kent said, before closing his eyes. In minutes, he was asleep.

She smiled at him, then turned to talk to Cid. "So. . .what are you guys doing for me?"

"Can't say. We swore to secrecy." Cid replied, shrugging. The midday heat was really getting to him. That was good. That ment that they were getting somewhat close to civilization. "I'll say this, though. You'll _really_ like it. Trust me."

Aerith smiled, and layed across the wing, taking up most of Vincent's spare room on the Tiny Bronco.

"Nope. I don't see a thing." Zack radioed, the F-22 he was strapped into whining in the back of his head.

He thought back to something Kent used to say - you didn't strap into a plane, you _wore_ it. That wasn't all false - it just sounded wierd saying you were wearing a multi ton machine capable of dropping nuclear weapons, even the new plasma yield warheads. They turned everything in their blast radius into plasma, effectively making stuff dissapear.

Zack had seen one in action - an AWACS plane got too close to the blast, causing the wing to just dissapear. Luckily, everyone bailed in time, but it sure was funny. He thought back to the time when Kent had managed to. . .

What was that? Something caught the edge of Zack's sight. He couldn't quite tell what it was, but it seemed to not be shooting anything at him - that was good.

He turned the fighter towards the spec of light he had seen. Pointing the nose down to get a better look at what it was, he saw clear as day the pink plane turned boat, Kent sleeping in about the middle of it.

"I've got 'em! They're coming in around Gongada, right near the Gold Saucer!"

"Good." Cloud replied over the radio they had installed in the buggy. "We'll be there by the time you're on the ground."

"Good deal. See 'ya in a few." Zack said, unsnapping his oxygen mask, smiling. Without Kent, there had been nothing but chaos. Cloud tried to take the reigns of the group, only to have Barret yelling at him about every little thing. Of course, Tifa supported Cloud's thinking, so there was almost always a constant yelling match between the three. Red and Cait tried to stay out of it, but eventually got drawn into arguments against their will. That left Zack doing his thing - he preferred to stay in the air.

Of course, the F-22 had seen better days. He had managed to keep Kent away from where he'd had to put the F-22 down - a forest. He'd managed to keep from shearing the wings off and sucking branches into the air intakes. All it needed was for some dings to be taken out of the fibersteel skin, which wasn't hard to do - a rubber mallet did the job just fine. After he'd done that, they managed to push the nine ton machine out of the forest and onto a relatively straight run. From there, he put the stealth fighter into the air, effectively keeping him away from the battle going on between his teamates.

Thank god Kent was coming back. Things were getting a little ugly.

Cid sighed as he listened to the radio over the barely operating Tiny Bronco's radio.

_"In the news today, Midgar has finally finished repairing reactors number one and five, destroyed by the rebel group AVALANCHE. As for the rouge fighter, no sign of it has been seen. Experts say it may have been shot down by Wutai patrols or simply ran out of feul and crashed. In other news, weapon smith John Roberts has found the Keystone, supposedly said to open the Temple of the Ancients. So far, it has not been confirmed if the Temple of the Ancients exists, although several people have began searching for it."_

Cid looked back and saw that both Kent and Aerith were asleep. Yuffie had simply zoned out, and Vincent seemed to be having a nice conversation with someone who wasn't there. Maybe he'd finally gone over the edge. . .Cid decided not to ask. Vincent had a big ass gun, and didn't want to risk being on the business end of it.

Cid looked up in the sky and saw a lone patrol plane. It could mean one of two things. Either Zack was looking for them or the Shinra had found them. So far, they hadn't been contacted by the plane, so he guessed it was Zack. He shook the cobwebs out and shoved the stick back, sending the Tiny Bronco forward with a spray of water and a whiff of sea air.

Kent immideately perked up when he felt the semi warm water splash him. He sat bolt upright, almost sending Aerith's blanket flying into the water. He looked around and saw that he wasn't under attack, and relaxed a bit.

"Hey, we're almost there." Cid said.

"Good, good." Kent replied, looking at his gloves. "I'm loosing my land legs. Besides, I was starting to wonder about Vincent's sanity."

Kent looked over to the raven haired man talking into space to emphasize his point. "Besides, I think we're all starting to smell a little. . .ripe.And I need to wash my hair. And so does Aerith. And, to be painfully obvious, so do you."

Cid simply scoffed, and lit up another cigarette. "You tell it like it is, boy. Land ho."

Kent enjoyed being back in the driver's seat of the buggy. Of course, he was still getting used to his land legs again, but that was no biggie.

"So, where to?" Cloud asked.

"Let's hit the weapons shop, since you need a new sword anyhow." Kent replied.

Cloud nodded and looked at what was left of the Buster Sword. "Think it can be repaired?"

Kent took a look at it, holding the steering wheel with his knees. "Highly unlikely. It _could_, but the flow would be really wonky."

Cloud took the stump back and sighed. "Thanks."

"Anytime."

"Y'know, I'd like to learn how to use a sword." Aerith said, looking over at Kent. "Y'know?"

"It's not all that hard." Kent said. "But I could teach you a couple things."

"So could I," Cloud offered.

"Cloud, my friend," Kent began, "You fight with a paddle. If you ask me, it's dumb luck that you manage to hit people with that thing."

"And the Hardedge isn't?"

"Oh, come, now. The Hardedge is at _least_ a foot and a half shorter than yours was."

"Okay, now we're just splitting hairs." Cloud said.

"Fine, fine." Kent said. "Look, here's what we'll do. Cloud and I will stop by the weapon maker's shop, get some weapons, train Aerith, and call it a day. The rest of you blokes go and get the keystone. Aerith, Cloud, and I will be there in no less than a day."

"Sounds like a plan." Zack said.

Kent looked at Aerith. In her hand was a traditional Wutai katana.

And, from the way she was holding it, it was obvious she had no idea whatsoever how to use it.

"You look awfully akward." Kent said. "Here, try like this."

Kent took the sword from her hands and got into a single handed fighting stance - right hand out from the body, holding the sword, left hand in closer to the body, right leg stretched out and toes pointed, left foot supporting his body. He made an experimental swing with the sword and nodded. "I like it."

"Not bad, Kent." The weaponsmith said.

"Thanks, John." Kent replied. "Nice sword. real light."

"I prefer ultralights." John replied. "I can tell you like heavier swords, though."

"I do." Kent replied.

John took the katana from Kent and gave it to Aerith. "Okay, let me see your stance."

Aerith took the sword and stood in a very akward stance.

John looked at Kent.

"Okay, Aerith," Kent began, "your first problem is that you're standing full body forward. That's bad, it gives the enemy a bigger target to hit. If you notice the way I stood," Kent took his stance, facing Aerith, "You'll notice I don't give you much to hit. However, the way you're standing, you might as well be wearing a target."

"I dunno," Aerith began, "This feels really akward."

John and Kent looked at eachother. Kent took the Hardedge off his back and gave it to Aerith.

"Now, I like this a lot better."

The girl took a much more comfortable looking stance holding the giant sword.

Kent nodded and took the katana into his stance. "Okay, step one is taken care of. Now. . .come at me."

"What?" Aerith asked.

"Come at me." Kent repeated.

"Umm. . .okay."

Aerith charged Kent and brought her sword into a striking position. Kent sidestepped and struck at her with the dull side of the blade.

"Okay, here's your problem. When you charged, you left yourself open." Kent said. "When you strike with something that big, you have to swing later. Much later than you'd think. Swing any sooner, and you're a moving target."

"Fighting with a big sword like that's harder than you'd think." John said.

Aerith sighed, exasperated. "I don't get how you guys can fight with these things."

"To be honest, neither do I." Cloud said, walking back from around the back of the house. "Basicially, you have to be really beefy to wield one of these guys."

"I guess you got a point." Kent replied. "I'll tell 'ya what. I'll train you for ultralights, and once you get good with those, we'll see how you like our big guys."

"Hey, by the way, can you fix the Buster Sword?" Cloud asked John.

"It. . .would be very iffy, and I'm not sure if it would flow right."

"So. . .no?"

"No." John said. "I'll see what I can do with it, though."

Cloud sighed. "Alright. When can I expect to pick it up?"

"A month."

"You hear that?" Zack asked.

"No." Tifa replied in the passanger's side of the buggy.

"Okay. I just thought I heard the sound of eternal suffering."

"Cloud, you'll be fine. I'm sure you can use that katana for a little while. . ." Kent said.

Cloud just continued to sulk, his arms crossed.

Kent sighed. "It was either that or fight with a stump of a sword."

Aerith looked around. "Hey, what's that?"

"What's what?" Kent asked, looking in the general direction of the treeline. "Wait. . .I see something. . ."

Kent waded into the thick forest. To his right was a swath clear of trees and vegitation, and right before him. . .

Sat the F-22.

"Hey, did you hear that?" Tifa asked.

"Err. . .no." Zack replied.

"Okay. I just thought I heard the sound of eternal suffering."

Kent looked at it for a second, and ran his hand across the leading edge of the wing. It seemed to be in decent condition. He reached into the air intakes and cleaned them out a little bit, as they were full of leaves and needles. One even had a bird's nest in it. He did the same with the exhaust ports at the end of the jet.

"Hey, gimme a hand and we can fly to Corel!"

Cloud and Aerith joined him at the front of the fighter, and they pushed the nine ton plane onto the plains.

It took them a while to do it, but they did. Kent opened the cockpit and looked around inside. It seemed to be in decent condition, considering Zack had flown it into a forest.

"Okay. . .let's see if I even remember how to do this. . ."

Kent got into the cockpit of the fighter, put his key into the ignition switch and made sure Cloud and Aerith were a ways away from the air intakes.

He turned the key and listened as the plane started with a pained whirr. Smiling, he turned it off and signaled for Aerith and Cloud to join him.

"Okay, so how are we gonna do this?" Cloud asked.

"I'll sit up front, and you two are gonna have to sit in the back. Just. . .just don't push anything. That would make me - and the idiot we're pointed at - quite sad."

Iffy seemed to be the word of the day. Tifa, Cait, and Barret walked into the Battle Square of the Golden Saucer.

"We could just. . .take it." Cait offered.

"Oh, yeah, and get lobbed back down into the desert. How 'bout _no!_" Tifa said.

"Just an idea," Cait said, standing atop his mog.

"Well, who have we here?"

Tifa spun around to see Dio, just beaming as he saw the three in his trophy room.

"Nice to see you again! No hard feelings about last time?"

"N. . .no, none at all." Tifa said. "Erm. . .I've got a question for you."

"We need the keystone." Barret said.

Dio looked at Barret with a blank expression. "Say what?"

"We need the keystone." Barret repeated.

Dio's mouth tried to curl into a smile, but it failed miserably. "No. I can't let you have it."

"Think about it!" Cait heard himself say. "Think about what if it _were_ the keystone to the _supposed_ Temple of the Ancients. If it was true, and you helped save the world? You'd be big, Dio. You'd be _huge_! You'd be bigger than. . .dare I say. . ."

Dio looked at the cat in wonder. "Dare."

"You'd be bigger than Shinra!"

Dio beamed. "It's all yours!"

Tifa smiled.

"For a price. . ."

Cait looked at Dio. "Beg your pardon?"

"You've gotta fight."

Tifa sighed in relief.

"I think _I'll_ be taking that fight."

Behind Dio appeared Aerith, the Yoshiuki strapped to her waist.

"Aerith?" Barret asked.

Dio spun around and looked at the three that had just come in. Kent had hardly changed; Cloud sported a katana hanging off his waist, as did Aerith.

"Are you okay with that? You could get hurt." Dio said.

Aerith scoffed. "I've got some training."

Dio smiled. "A sweet thing like you fighting. . .this should be good."

Kent grinned as he watched the screen in the battle square. Aerith took a fighting stance with her sword - an altered version of the one she used with the Hardedge - and got ready to start taking enemies.

"She's changed a bit." Zack said, standing next to Kent. "How's she doing with a sword."

"Decent." Kent replied.

"Okay, really." Zack said.

"I'll be suprised if she can hold her own for three fights. Are preperations ready for. . that thing?"

"Yup." Zack replied, smiling. "We'll be good to go."

"Wicked." Kent replied as Aerith tore through an enemy. "By the way, why, oh _why_, did my fighter end up in _a forest_!?"

"Umm. . .dunno, hey, look at the time I'd better go bye!"

"Oh, no you don't!" Kent said, grabbing Zack by the collar. "What happened?"

"Erm. . .long story. . ."

"We've got time."

Aerith walked out of the battle arena nearly unscathed. Kent looked at her in awe. Cloud looked at Kent for affimation of what had just transpired.

Eight battles. Aerith had won _all_ of them.

"How did you do that?" Kent asked.

"I made up my own style." She replied, smiling. "I think I'll stick to my staves for a little while, though."

Kent sighed. "Okay. When Cloud and I checked, the gondola broke down, so Cait got us hooked up with housing. I'm gonna head over to the hotel."

"I'll go with you." Aerith said.

Kent nodded, and they walked down the stairs of the battle square, leaving Cloud to collect the keystone.

"Y'know," Cait began, "It's not every day we get to be together like this. We're either on the road. . .or in the air. . .or whatnot."

"This is true." Kent replied.

"Well, now that we're all together," Cait began, "I still have yet to know the whole story, since I wasn't here since the beginning."

"Good idea." Vincent said.

"Damn strait!" Cid echoed.

"Damn, man," Barret began, "I've been here since the beginning, and I'm _still_ clueless!"

Cloud stood and crossed his arms. "Well, after a five year absence, Sephiroth is looking for both the Promised Land and the Black Materia."

"The Promised Land is something of a burial grounds for the Ancients." Aerith chimed in. "They would end their journey at the Promised Land. . . I think."

"Ancient equal Cetra, by the by." Kent chimed.

"You don't really know _where_ the Promised Land is," Aerith continued. "You just kinda travel, 'till you know that. . .'This is the Promised Land.' Y'know?"

"Can you feel it?" Cloud asked.

Aerith sighed. "No, but the planet feels. . .anxious."

"Kent? How 'bout you?"

"Drink coke, play again."

Cloud raised an eyebrow. "Right."

"What about all those guys in black?" Tifa asked. "Y'know, the ones with the numbers on their hands?"

Kent nodded. They were swarming around the Shinra mansion, and had numbers tatooed on their hands. "I think. . .Hojo may have done something terrible to them."

"I have a thirteen on me." Red said. "My other marks are just war scars, but Hojo put that number on me. Cloud. . .am I gonna go insane?"

"More than likely not." Kent said. "I'm gonna go turn in." With that, Kent started unbuckling the locks to his sword and walked into his room.

Artificial rain. Kent smiled. At mach one, rain would flow right over a hole in his cockpit the size of a watermelon. At least, he thought so.

He'd have to check with Zack on that one. He'd know.

Artificial thunder cracked, covering up the creaking door.

Kent grinned.

"I know you're there, Aerith."

She smiled, and ran up to his side. "Wanna go on a date?"

Kent spat his drink out. "Beg your pardon?"

"A da-te! Or have you never _been_ on one?"

Kent looked at Aerith, a look of distain in his mako eyes.

"Oh, come on."

Aerith grabbed his wrist and drug him along. Funny. . .Kent never remembered Aerith being so strong. . .

Aerith led Kent into the Event Square, where a play was being set up.

"Congradulations! You're our 100th couple! You two will star in tonight's performance!"

"Ooh! This could be fun!" Aerith said.

Kent looked at the man in the chocobo costume, at Aerith, then at the stage manager leading them backstage.

"Hold on! I'm not sure if I'm ready for this kind of commitment!"

_Long, long ago...a terrible shadow appeared over the land! All throughout the kingdom, the peasants felt the terror of the Evil Dragon King, Valvados. And in his reign of terror, the dragon stole the beautiful princess Rosa from her castle! Oh. . .what will happen next. . .!_

Kent walked on stage with a fake sword, a decidedly heroic look to it. On his head he sported a foil helmet.

_This is humiliating_, he thought.

_Oh, look! The legendary hero, Alfred as arrived!_

"You must be. . .the legendary hero. . .Alfred!" A knight said, spinning out on stage. "I know it in my heart. . .you must talk to. . .the king!"

He spun off and allowed the King to spin on stage.

"Legendary hero, Alfred, I know it in my heart. . .you will save my daughter. . .Rosa! Please, talk to my wizard, Vorkill!"

Kent sighed and bowed his head. This was humiliating.

The wizard spun onto the stage. "I am the wizard, Vorkill! What is it that you wish to know?"

Kent looked at the wizard with a blank stare.

"Psst. That's your line." The wizard whispered to Kent. Kent closed his eyes and swallowed every last ounce of pride he had left.

_One semester of Drama. . .don't fail me now._

"I wish to know the weakness of Valvados!" Kent waved his sword in what he thought was a triumphant manner. It seemed to work; the crowd started cheering.

"The one thing that can defeat Valvados is true love! A kiss will surely break his spell!"

_Egads! Alfred, Valvados has appeared, Rosa in hand!_

Kent brought his sword down into a fighting stance he thought would look triumphant.

From the left curtain waddled a man in a _giant_ dragon suit, Aerith in hand.

"What ho, legendary hero, Alfred! I have come for you, and. . .I already know who you are!"

"Legendary hero, help me!" Aerith shouted.

"A kiss!" The crowd shouted.

Kent brought his sword behind him - forgetting his locks were still in his room - and dropped the sword. He walked closer to Aerith and locked his eyes with hers.

They were both flushed scarlet.

Kent was inches away from Aerith' face when he dropped to his knee and kissed her hand.

"Aarg!" Valvados roared. "Curse the powers of love!"

Shaking his head, the dragon was hauled up through the rafters.

_And so, Rosa and Alfred returned to the castle and lived happily ever after. The end._

"Ooh, let's go on this next!" Aerith said, dragging a still red Kent behind her. Without much elegance or grace, she pushed Kent into the tube, followed by herself.

Kent emerged at the gondola ride.

Aerith pushed him into the gondola before he could shout a response, or even a protest. The wooden gondola got moving. Fireworks interrupted the pitch black of the sky. Balloons were being released everywhere.

And in the center of it all was Kent and Aerith.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Aerith asked.

Kent nodded and smiled, lost in her deep green eyes.

"I know we've been through some hard times." Aerith began, and took Kent's hand in hers. "But I hope you can understand where I'm coming from when I say I've been waiting a long time for us to be alone."

_The last time was in Costa Del Sol_, Kent thought. "I know what you mean."

"I just want you to know that. . .Kent, I still love you."

_Time to set the trap,_ Kent thought, mentally grimacing at the scene he had to lay out.

"I know you love me." He said. "But. . .I'm not sure if it would be a good idea for us to love eachother."

"What?" Aerith asked, looking into Kent's eyes for an answer.

Kent removed his glasses and placed them in their case he kept in the inside pocket of his jumpsuit. "Aerith, I know that you love me. And I know that I love you. And that makes me happy. But. . .there's one thing that concerns me. What happens if something happened to you."

Kent took his gloves off and showed Aerith scars on his wrists. "Aerith, I did this when Heidi died. Because I thought I was a failure, because I thought that I was worthless. Luckily, I pushed through. Just barely."

"So. . .what are you saying?" Aerith asked, her eyes brimming with tears.

"I'm saying that I _want_ to love you. But I'm saying it's a bad idea, because of what could happen to _us_."

Aerith looked away for a second.

"I'm _not_ saying I _won't_ love you. Because I do." Kent said.

Aerith just looked out the window.

"And I'm willing to prove just how much I do."

Aerith suddenly looked up at Kent. "Beg your pardon?"

Kent grabbed Aerith by the wrist and dragged her into the Event Square again.

"We've already been he. . ."

"Oh, no, we haven't." Kent said, absolutely beaming. "Welcome, Aerith, to my little show."

Aerith' mouth moved, but she found she couldn't find any words to put to the scene before her. "Is _this_ what you've been planning?"

Kent nodded, and ran up onto the stage. Also on the stage was Cloud, sitting behind a drum set. Next to him was Tifa, sitting at a baby grand piano. Cid stood opposite Tifa, an electric bass hanging off him by its strap. Off to the side a bit was Zack, guitar in hand. Next to him was a large case.

And smack in the middle of the stage was a microphone.

Kent smiled wide, turned a little red, and opened up the case. Out of it, he pulled a saxophone that was about half as tall as he was. From the case he also grabbed a harness which he strapped around himself and a reed. With that, he walked to the microphone and cleared his throat.

There were still a decent amount of people in the crowd. This would be good.

"Umm. . .Hi. My name's Kent Hartmann, and we'll be playing a little piece for 'ya. I'm sure you'll know it when you hear it. Feel free to sing along if you know the words. By the way, Aerith, this one's for you."

Aerith blushed, sitting in the front row.

Kent grinned. She'd be doing a lot more than that in little more than two minutes. He turned to Zack and gave him a tempo. He got it into his head and began playing a rythm. Right behind him followed Tifa and Cloud, and then Kent on his saxophone.

Zack pulled up a microphone of his own and began singing.

"If I had a million dollars,"

"If I had a million dollars," Kent echoed,

"I'd buy you a house,

"I would buy you a house. . ."

In the hotel, Vincent sat at a chess board, playing what seemed to be a very one sided game of chess with Barret.

Vincent mulled over his next move and moved his knight. "Check."

Barret looked at the board. He took his rook and took Vincent's knight.

"Checkmate." Vincent said.

Barret looked at his options. It was true, Vincent had put him into checkmate.

"Damn, man. You're good."

"I'm okay." Vincent said. "I'm nothing compared to Lucrecia."

Out of the corner of his eye, Barret caught Cait Sith.

"Hey, cat, care to play Vincent in some chess?"

It was then Barret noticed in his paws he had the keystone.

"Hey, hey, cat!"

Cait Sith ran for all he was worth, Barret and Vincent on his tail.

Kent was enjoying this. He hadn't played sax in so long, he'd almost lost the touch. He still had decent tone, too, especially in the low register.

Not to mention the horn was beautiful.

Zack nodded to Kent, signaling the beginning of the next verse.

"If I had a million dollars,"

"If I had a million dollars,"

"I'd buy you a green dress,"

"But not a real green dress, that's creul."

By this time, the crowd was fairly into the song, even Aerith.

"If I had a million dollars,"

"If I had a million dollars,"

"I'd buy you some art."

"A Picasso or a Garfunkel,"

"If I had a million dollars,"

"If I had a million dollars,"

"I'd buy you a monkey,"

"Haven't you always wanted a mon-_key_!"

"If I had a million dollars,"

"I'd buy your love,"

Rather than go into the chorus from here, the chord progression kept going. "Aerith, come on up."

She crawled up onto the stage with Kent's help. This was it.

_Bogey on radar._

"Aerith, would you love me if I had a million dollars?"

"Of course."

"Would you marry me if I had a million dollars?"

_I've got tone!_

Aerith nodded, her eyes full of wonder.

_Dragon two, fox one!_

"Would you marry me if I didn't have a million dollars?"

Aerith nodded again, her eyes becoming wide.

Kent dropped to one knee and produced a small, green box, and opened it. Inside was a small diamond ring. "Then Aerith Gainsborough, will you marry me?"

_C'mon, c'mon, c'mon. . ._

Aerith didn't know how to respond. This was just. . .a total emotion overload. Happiness, her love for Kent, just. . .so much happened.

In the end, her mouth moved, and her vocal chords made a sound, but she didn't remember her brain telling her body to do any of it.

"Yes!"

_Splash one!_

Kent smiled wide, and put the ring on her finger. The crowd cheered wildly. Kent turned to the band.

"If I had a million dollars," the band said.

"If I had a million dollars," Kent echoed.

"If I had a million dollars,"

"If I had a million dollars,"

"If I had a million dollars. . ."

"I'd be rich." Kent said.

The band stopped. The crowd was going wild. Aerith had tears of joy running down her face. Kent was grinning like a madman. The band stood up and congradulated the soon to be married couple.

And, amidst it all, Barret and Vincent ended up chasing down Cait Sith, which would soon erupt in the event square.

Kent's phone rang. He sighed and picked it up.

"Is this important?"

"Yes." Barret said, obviously doing some sort of strenuous activity. "Cait Sith has the keystone and he's headed your way reeeeal fast."  
As if on cue, Cait Sith burst into the Event Square, Vincent and Barret hot on his heels.

"Get 'im!" Kent shouted, pulling his .45 caliber handgun and leaping from the stage. He was followed by Cloud, Murasame in hand, then by Cid. Zack stayed behind, as well as Tifa.

Aerith was still too dumbstruck to say anything.

"Stop!" Kent shouted, putting his pistol back in its holdster. He poured it on, hoping to catch up to the mog and cat team.

The mog was quite a bit faster than Kent had imagined. The mog dove into the pipe labeled Chocobo Square.

Disregarding safety, Kent dove in head first, sliding on his stomach, and suddenly regretting it, as he remembered he was wearing his white shirt. The tube spat him out in the Chocobo Square, sending him into the air a fair distance. He hit the ground running, immideately after the mutaneering cat.

"Git back here!" Kent shouted as Cait Sith dissapeared into the crowd of the box office of the Chocobo Square.

Cloud, Cid, Barret and Vincent joined Kent in the box office.

Kent's sensitive eyes searched the room for any sign of the cat and mog.

With the grace of the Cavalier's finest, Kent took a large step backwards, spun on the ball of his foot, and was immideately after Cait Sith as he dashed out of the door.

Before Kent could do anything, Cait Sith tossed the keystone to Tseng, waiting in a Shinra chopper. After Tseng had the keystone, the chopper was gone.

Kent squinted and drew his gun. "You double crossed us. You're the spy."

"Yes, it's true," Cait said. "Can we just continue on our journey like nothing even happened?"

Kent pulled the hammer back on his gun. "No chance. You expect us to trust you after what you've done? If we were back where I'm from, you'd be court marshalled and put to death."

Cait sighed. "I hoped it wouldn't have to come to this."

The mog opened his mouth to reveal a short wave radio.

"Papa. . .Tifa, are you there?"

Barret's eyes became wide, and without another word, the big man tackled the cat and pointed his gun at his face.

"You let Marlene go, or I'll empty this whole magazine into you."

"It won't do you any good. These bodies are just toys. They're being controlled from the Shinra building."

"So you're a Shinra employee." Kent said, lowering his gun. "Now that's just a waste of ammo. Better saved for Sephiroth."

Kent put his gun back in his holdster.

"There's something about you guys that confuses me." Cait said.

"What's that, spy?" Barret asked.

"I mean, you're out, risking your lives for the fate of a dying world, yet you ask for nothing in return."

"So?" Kent asked.

"It makes me wonder. . .maybe I wouldn't like things if they turned out the way they might."

"And so on, and so on. Once a spy, always a spy."

"You don't have any choice. Apply some logic and common sense. I could have Marlene and Mrs. Gainsborough eliminated at any time I want."

Kent stopped and resisted the urge to pull his gun and fill the bionic cat full of lead.

"He's right."

Barret let go of Cait.

"Just make sure I don't catch you alone." Kent said, walking to the tube labeled Ghost Square.

"What's the plan?" Cid asked.

"Well, we've got the F-22 and the Tiny Bronco." Kent said, stretching, the Hardedge and its locks sitting next to him. "The F-22 can hold two, three at the absolute max. The Tiny Bronco, considerably more. So, here's what we're gonna do. My self and Aerith are gonna take the F-22, mainly 'cause we're both Cetra, and because we can probably get there before the Shinra if we're going the speed of sound. We'll fend them off the best we can and wait for you guys."

"Is having you to together a good idea?" Tifa asked.

Kent glared at her. "No, Tifa, I _don't_ indend on letting anything happen between Aerith and myself while we're waiting for you guys."

"I certainly hope not." Tifa replied. "Could be bad for your health, if you know what I mean."

Aerith walked out of her room, katana strapped to her waist. "Are we ready to go?"

"Yeah." Kent said. "You and I are gonna take the F-22."

"Oh, joy." Aerith said, with just a taste of sarcasm. "Haven't you already broken your G meter?"

"Nope. It goes all the way to fifteen G's."

"Oh, joy." Aerith said again, and sighed. "Can't you tone it down just a little?"

"Nope." Kent said. "I haven't had a chance to do much of anything in forever."

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Aerith said, strapped into the backseat of the F-22.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine." Kent replied, getting the feel of the F-22 back. "Well, _I_ will. . ."

Kent finished with a cackle.

"Oh, god." Aerith thought, resting her head in her hands. This was gonna be one _loooong _flight.

"You get airsick at all?"

"Umm. . . a little."

"Would you prefer we just take it nice and easy?"

"You serious?" Aerith asked. "I thought you couldn't wait to do some aerobatics."

"Hey, I'm just driving. You're the passanger. It's your call."

"Well. . . I've never really done anything too crazy. . ."

"Then we're gonna change that. Err. . .you're okay with that?"

"Yeah!" Aerith said.

"Okay. There should be a couple _grey_ handles back there. Grab them, _not_ the yellow and black striped ones."

Aerith located the handles; they were on either side of the cockpit.

"Now what?"

"Get your butt as far back into that seat as you can, and tighten your harness."

Aerith did as she was told. "Now what?" She asked.

"Hold on for dear life."

Kent tucked the fighter into a sharp dive, inverted the plane, then shot straight up, spinning the whole way. Right before the plane stalled, Kent tucked it into a sideways turn with the rudders, simulating a cartwheel in midair.

Kent shoved the fighter into afterburners and pulled left and back on the stick while keeping his left foot on the rudder pedal. The plane was essentially corkscrewing at this point.

The plane leveled off at about the time the shore came up. Kent pushed the fighter down close enough to the ground that he could see chocobos with relative ease.

"Kent, what are you doing?"

The fighter passed over the shore and over water, the fighter sending up twin rooster tails of water.

Kent turned the fighter upside down. He pushed the stick up, shooting them straight upwards again. He turned the fighter another hundred eighty degrees and leveled off.

"How was that?" Kent asked.

"That was. . .invigorating. . ."

"Hey, Mikey, I think she likes it." Kent said. "I've got the hang of this again. Care to try something like that again?"

"Sometime in the near future."

"Okay." Kent said, putting the plane on auto level. "So. . .yeah. How do you think your mother's gonna take the news?"

"What news?" Aerith asked. "Ohhh. . ._that_ news."

"Mmm-hmm." Kent said.

"I. . .don't know." Aerith said. "I think she'll be happy."

"That's good." Kent said. "Any siblings?"

"Single child." Aerith replied. "Like I said, I don't remember my real mother and father, all I remember is Elmyra."

Kent nodded. "I wish I still _had_ parents. All I have is my brother. He still has the house that we lived in as kids, 'cept he's living alone. Still has the Hyundai; hasn't messed with it since. . ."

Kent sighed. "The rear end is still all messed up, and the engine still won't start, 'cause compression is nonexistant. I haven't even messed with the CD in the CD player since then."

_Kent's still really torn up about this,_ Aerith thought.

"Best not to dwell in the past, though."

"No, Kent."

"Wha?"

"Kent, you've held back long enough. I can tell. Just. . .just let it all out."

Kent hesitated. "We should wait 'till we land."

The air of the moment was shattered. "Unidentified aircraft, you have entered Wutai airspace. Please exit or be fired upon."

"Oh, hell." Kent said. "I shoulda thought having this thing dinged up would cause some problems."

"What are we gonna do?" Aerith asked.

"We can try and talk our way out of it, or we can do what the G man's known for - crazy ass shit."

An uncomfortable silence. "Up to you."

Kent grinned. "We may be violating Wutai air space, but they'll never get us alive!"

Kent saw the Wutai fighters closing in fast on him. They looked like modified F-16's.

"Time to take these guys to the top of the world!"

"Top of the world?" Aerith asked.

"You _may _wanna put your air mask on for this. Ever been 90,000 feet up?" Kent asked.

"No. . ." Aerith replied, snapping her oxygen mask onto her face.

"Then get ready for a fun ride."

The afterburners kicked both Kent and Aerith in the ass, Kent pulling up, putting the figher into a gentle fourty-five degree climb.

"They're on our tail!" Aerith shouted.

"Not for long they won't." Kent watched the altimiter click higher and higher. There was still a little bit of time before he got too high for the F-16 lookalikes.

Kent cranked the brakes and spoilers out, pulled the throttle back. He pulled back on the stick and executed a beautiful backflip, putting him right on the tails of the two Wutai fighters.

Aerith watched as a small ball of flame shot from the tailpipes of the Wutai fighters.

"And. . .flameout!" Kent said, tilting the fighter onto its side, shooting right between the fighters as they dove to get air in their engines to start up again.

"Hah! Fifty-five thousand feet. Lightweights. . ."

At this point, the clouds were far below the F-22 and the sun was just off to the left of the cockpit, casting the shadow of the two occupants onto the polygonal shaped wing.

Slowly, the sky changed from blue, to a dark navy, then to almost black, stars piercing through the satin curtain.

"It's so pretty," Aerith said.

"Isn't it?" Kent asked. "Welcome to the top of the world."

"Just how high are we?"

"We're peaking out at ninte-five thousand feet. . .and. . ."

"Warning, high altitude compressor stall." The female computer voice said.

"And we've stalled out. This is where we freefall 'till the engines come back online, which will hopefully be soon."

The fighter nosed down, and allowed for a view of the world from nearly a hundred thousand feet up. Junon looked like a tiny speck of brass on the coast, and Midgar was only dime sized from that high.

"Wow. . .it's beautiful. . ."

"From way up here, it seems like the world's at peace. Almost like nothing is wrong. . .that's why I like flying. I can just let go. . .and it's me, the fighter, and the sky."

"Even when you're dogfighting?" Aerith asked.

"That's when I'm the most connected to my fighter, be it an F-18, an F-22, hell, even an F-4. Because we're both striving for the same thing. Anything I can make the fighter do, it can take, anything the fighter can do, I can take. And somewhere in the middle of those two, there's a happy equilibreum where I push the fighter."

"Wow. That's deep." Aerith said.

"I suppose so. But basicially, flying makes me free. It disconnects me from everything the world throws at me. My family, Heidi, my brother. . .everything is lost in the hour, hour and a half I have in the cockpit."

"And. . .why are you telling me this?" Aerith asked, out of curiosity.

"Because I told myself I'd share this with the woman I'd marry. This freedom, this. . .this. . .liberty. The sky. Man, on a day like this, you could see all the way to Spokane."

"Your hometown?" Aerith asked.

"Yeah," Kent replied. "Well, you couldn't see much _detail_ of it, but you could see it, especially at night. There'd be this little speck of land that just totally lit up. It was sublime."

"Y'know, Kent, I'm really glad we're getting married."

"So am I." Kent replied. "I finally have someone for me."

Both of them smiled.

Aerith looked around. The clouds were a lot closer, and she could see actual dimentions. They were too close to the ground to see Midgar, but Junon was there in beautiful detail, the sun reflecting off it's brass finish.

"Okay, I'm ready to put this bird down. Get ready to land."

"They had to go and pick a fight, didn't they?" Cloud asked, hearing the Wutai Air Control go nuts over a space capable Shinra fighter from the Tiny Bronco's radio.

Cid spat. "Figures. I knew somethin' was up when they both took that thing. . ."

"I shudder just thinkin' about what they're doin' right now. . ." Barret said.

Tifa cringed. "Don't even put that image into my head."

"Look, we've still got the issue of the Shinra having the keystone." Cloud said, trying to get his mind off of Kent and Aerith. "Hey. . .how close are we, anyway?"

"Beats me." Cid replied.

"Lovely." Cloud replied, pulling his sword from its sheath and looking at it in the dying light.

Kent started a fire in a small clearing and started cooking some food. The F-22 poked into the radius of the camp setup, as if it was trying to get some food for itself.

The light from the sun was beginning to give out, and he could barely make out a spec on the horison. The Tiny Bronco.

"Sure is pretty." Aerith said, hugging her knees and facing the sunset.

Kent looked up at it. "Yeah, it is.

"Y'know what we could do right now while we wait?" Aerith asked.

Kent gulped. "Uhh. . .what?"

"You could show me some more of how to use a sword."

Kent breathed a sigh of relief.

"What, did you think I'd suggest we just do it right now?" Aerith asked, smiling and turning to face Kent.

"You'd be suprised what kind of thoughts cross my mind." Kent said.

Aerith stood, dusted her dress off, and drew her katana.

"Okay, let me see the stance you used in the battle arena."

Aerith took her stance.

"Now that I think about it, that's a pretty good stance." Kent said.

She was mirroring Cloud's fighting stance.

"Your side is turned, you look liquid. . .are you comfortable?"

"Kind of." Aerith replied.

"Okay, here's the secret to sword fighting - finding a stance that's comfortable to you. Go ahead and try some positions and see what you like."

Aerith experimented with some stances and found what she liked - a modified version of Cloud's stance - her legs stayed the same, but she didn't turn her upper body, just her head to face her opponent. Her sword she kept in her on hand and her left hand stayed in a defensive position.

"Good." Kent said. "Now, I want you to attack me."

"What?" Aerith asked in suprise.

"Attack me." Kent said.

"But. . ."

"Just _do it_!"

Aerith looked at Kent, and timidly charged.

Before she knew what was happening, the Hardedge was holding the Yoshiuki at bay.

"Don't be timid." Kent said. "If you're going to attack, commit to it."

Kent stepped back and cracked his knuckles. "Now come on."

Aerith squinted and charged Kent again.

_Piece of cake,_ Kent thought. He thought he had read Aerith' attack perfectly.

He didn't.

As Kent went to block, Aerith spun to her left, and felt the Yoshiuki stick to his back.

Kent spun to face Aerith, half to get the Yoshiuki off the magnetic locks on his back, half to prove how fast the tide in battle turns.

In his right hand he held the Hardedge, in his left he felt for his Desert Eagle.

Only to find it in his face.

Aerith had grabbed the gun and held it at point blank to Kent's face.

He sighed. "Not bad."

"Thanks." Aerith replied, and handed the gun to Kent.

"Of course," Kent said, as he slammed a clip into the gun, "It always helps if you, y'know, put a clip in the gun."

"Then why was it cocked?" Aerith asked as she sheathed her sword.

Kent pulled the pencil out of the barrel. "Navy's thing. They always have you keep a pencil in the barrel of your gun. I suppose I could stop doing that. . ."

"Should the food be done by now?"

"Oh, yeah. It should, huh?"

Cloud squinted at his cards. Tifa looked at him across the top of her own cards.

"Raise."

Tifa set down a couple gil on the wing of the Tiny Bronco.

"I'll see that raise."

"Alright. . .burn and turn."

Cid laid one card aside and flipped three cards over. Both Cloud and Tifa kept perfect poker faces.

There was an ace, a jack, and a three on the table, as it were.

"Raise." Cloud said.

"Check." Tifa said.

Cid nodded, set one card aside, and laid down one more card. A jack.

"Raise." Tifa said.

"All in." Cloud said.

A slight murmer moved through the crowd.

"All in." Tifa replied. Both players moved their money into the center.

"Let's see 'em."

Both players set their two cards down. They both had the same thing - two aces.

Cid looked at the cards, then at the cards on the table. Then he did a double take.

"What the hell?"

Cid looked at the ace on the table. It wasn't from the same deck.

"Okay. . .this card's out. Turn and burn one more time. . ."

Cid set down one more card. King.

"No way!" Tifa shouted.

"Who won?" Yuffie asked.

"Cloud. He has spades and clubs."

Yuffie sighed. "I'm never gonna get this game. . ."

Kent put his spoon in his bowl, set it on the ground, and laid down under the nose antanna of the F-22. "Aah. . .nothin' beats good 'ol fashioned campfire cooking."

"Except good 'ol fashioned home cooking." Aerith said, sitting down next to him.

"Aah. . .now that's something I haven't had in a long time. . ." Kent mused. "About since the time mom and dad died. . ."

"And that was. . ." Aerith began.

Kent held up four fingers. "Four years ago. I was ninteen."

"You were only ninteen?" Aerith asked.

"Mmm-hmm." Kent replied.

"Oh my god. . .you were so. . ."

"Young?" Kent asked, sitting up. "Yeah, that's what everyone said. A kid only nineteen with a sixteen year old brother to take care of. Well, him, being the independent bastard he was, went off to live with some friends. Well, the job that I was working with fell through, and then, good 'ol Dubya - that was the nickname we had for our president back then - reinstates the draft. So, rather than get drafted into the army, I joined the Air Force, just to find that Zack had done the same thing. And the rest, as they say, is history."

Aerith shook her head.

"Yeah, I had a tragic couple years. Heidi died, my parents died, America went to war. . ."

Kent sighed, and stood up. He looked at the F-22. . .

And kicked the front tire as hard as he could muster, nearly popping it, and sent the eighteen thousand pound fighter swinging. Without a second thought, Kent climbed up the side of the fuselage and into the cockpit, with Aerith hot on his heels.

The engines of the F-22 whined as they spun up.

"You may not want to come with me." Kent flatly said. "Right now, I could be an accident waiting to happen."

"We're engaged." Aerith said, strapping herself in. "I'm not going anywhere without you."

"Suit yourself."

The F-22 began rolling, and without much runway, it was in the air.

And then, Aerith' world became a blurr of tumbles, spins, snaps, flips, and things of the like.

Without warning, the fighter was pointed straight up, full afterburner kicked in.

Kent said nothing, but Aerith could see him gripping the throttle quadrant and control stick with white knuckles.

"Kent. . .you've just got to let it all out. Do it now. . .while you have the chance."

"I could kill you." Kent said, strain in his voice.

"I trust you." Aerith said.

Kent squeezed his eyes closed tight.

A lone tear squeezed out from his right eye. He lowered the throttles and leveled out the plane.

"Are you sure?" Kent asked. "Absolutely positive?"

Aerith nodded. "Just let it out, Kent. You have to."

Kent lowered his head. . .

And with a shout, the F-22 was in a roll, headed straight down, towards the water. Aerith fought the urge to shout, and conceded to holding fast to the handles in the back seat.

The fighter came out of its dive and shot up at a fourty-five degree angle. Suddenly, the fighter did a half flip, sending it flying upside-down, and getting closer to the water every second.

The fighter shook violently as it rolled right-side up. Kent shoved the stick down hard.

Aerith closed her eyes tight as she felt the fighter shoot downwards, then get violently shoved back up.

Kent had actually _skipped_ the fighter on the water.

The F-22 shot upwards again, in full afterburner, going straight up.

"I kept running. . ." Kent murmered in a low growl. "No more. . ."

The computer piped up. "Warning, high altitude compressor stall."

It was that moment, Aerith noticed Kent wasn't wearing an air mask.

The sky changed to an inky blackness. Kent pushed the stick down hard, but didn't get any response.

Aerith couldn't believe it. They had shot through the atmosphere and into space.

"Kent, put your mask on." Aerith said.

Kent drew in a deep breath, then put his air mask on. Slowly, earth's gravity took over, and the F-22 started back towards earth, the nose pointed straight down. The engines came back online, shoving the fighter down even faster.

"Warning, overspeed." The computer warned. And they were still at one hundred thousand feet.

The fighter kicked both pilot and passenger in the ass as Kent pushed the left rudder, sending them not only downwards, but now spinning.

The massive F-22 was shaken as it spun in the air, different parts catching air as it spun.

And the ground appeared to be getting closer. . .and closer. . .and closer. . .

Suddenly, the spinning stopped, but they were still falling tail first. Full afterburner kicked in, and the fighter seemed to slow.

"Warning, stall." The computer chirped. Once more, the fighter rolled so the nose was pointing down. From their height of twenty thousand feet, they powered straight down, punching through the clouds, and approaching the island.

Once again, the computer chimed. "Warning, overspeed."

Kent sat forward in his chair. "This is it. This is my goodbye. . ."

It was very unnatural for Aerith to hear Kent say that and not panic. But she kept herself as calm as she could.

"I trust you." Aerith said.

The water rushed up to them as the altimiter wound down. Five thousand feet. . .four thousand feet. . .three thousand feet. . .two thousand feet. . .

Out of the corners of her eyes, Aerith saw the wings flex upwards at a sharp angle. She also felt herself squash down in her seat as her field of vision changed from water to horizon.

"Goodbye. . .to the past."

Aerith' eyes softened.

"Aerith, I'm glad you came along." Kent said. "Thank you. Now let's set this bird down."

_Aerith looked up at Cloud, and smiled. Even though Cloud held the Murasame above his head, prepared to kill Aerith, she still smiled. Both Vincent and Barret had their guns trained on Cloud, both of them willing to pull the trigger if he would kill Aerith._

_But Cloud didn't. He just stepped back and dropped his katana. "W. . .wh. . . .what are you trying to make **me do!?**"_

_As if on cue, they heard the sound of metal on crystal. Everyone's gaze turned towards the stairs, where Kent executed a perfect flip and landed on his feet, kicking the Hardedge back into his hands to face his adversary: Sephiroth._

_Kent parried a slash from the Masamune and jabbed the long haired SOLDIER in the chest, sending him down to the main part of the temple area. Kent leapt down and slashed again, just to see the blade of the Hardedge slash through Sephiroth._

_The form melted into whisps of vapor._

_Then, it happened._

_He looked above the altar, where Aerith still kneeled, where Cloud still stood. There was Sephiroth, his long katana pointed downwards. With a flutter of black cloth, Sephiroth leapt._

_Kent sprung and brought his sword up to attack. The two forms both lanced towards Aerith, their weapons drawn. _

_In Kent's eyes, it was all slow motion. He saw the tip of the Masamune moving ever closer, ever nearer to Aerith' back, as he moved closer to Sephiroth._

_Kent slashed. . ._

Aerith sat bolt upright, drawing in deep breaths.

"Bad dream?"

She looked around the campfire and found that the rest of the group had joined them. The fire was burning brightly and the smell of food wafted throughout the camp. Between Cloud and Cid sat the F-22, its nose pointing in towards the camp as if to try to get some food for itself. On the nose, his back against the canopy lay Kent, his glasses resting on the bridge of his nose. His bright mako eyes glowed bright as he smiled down at the camp, one leg hanging off the side of the nose cone.

"What about?" He asked.

"Gee, I wonder," Aerith asked as she contorted her face into mock contemplation. Everyone had a chuckle at the joke.

"No small wonder there," Cid said, looking up at Kent. "I could see that thing from the Tiny Bronco. . .I tell you, if I was riding backseat with you, I probably wouldn't have walked outta that thing."

"I'm suprised _I_ walked outta this thing," Kent said.

"No shit." Zack said. "I saw those wings flex when you pulled up. There's no way that could have been legal."

"_But it is,_" Kent said, adding a smooth texture to his voice. That got another rise out of the group.

Cait jumped off his mog and reached into its maw.

"Whatcha doin', cat?" Zack asked.

"Reading a fortune," The cat said, pulling out a piece of paper. "Hmm. Horrible flaming death. 'Magine that."

Kent chuckled. "That's how it was meant to be, Zack. Going down in a hail of shrapnel and flames."

"Yeah, knock yourself out. I prefer watching said hail of shrapnel and flames from a parachute, thank you very much."

"Oh, come now." Kent said, smirking. "I'm smarter than that. I'd disable your ejection mechanism."

"Can't, remember? We specificially asked for that disabled."

"Oh, yeah. . ."

The group laughed once more.

"Alright, anyway, let's get serious, here," Kent said, sitting up. "We need the black materia. If Sephiroth gets it, we're toast."

A round of something sounding like agreeing went around the group.

"So, tomorrow, we're heading in there and we're gonna get the materia."

"Wonderful strategy!" Cid sarcasticially said.

"Ah, I'm not _done_ yet," Kent said. "Myself and Aerith are going in. I'd like one more to come with us."

"I guess I'll go," Cloud said, shrugging.

"Works for me. Zack, I want you to fly cover. I don't want the Shinra sneaking up on us."

"What's the loadout on it?" Zack asked.

"Everything minus a couple rounds of ammo and a Sidewinder."

"Wonderful." Zack said.

"Cid, you wanna backseat for 'im?" Kent asked.

"Might as well. Nothing better to do." Cid said, resisting the urge to pull down a cigarrette from his headband.

Aerith had told him on several occasions that cigarrets would kill him. Kent said that if he kept smoking the cigaretts would be the least of his worries.

"I want everyone else to stay sharp out here. I don't wanna come out only to be swarmed by hungry natives or somethin' like that."

"Izzat it?" Yuffie asked.

"Yes, Yuffie, that's it." Kent said. "Now everyone, let's get some sleep."

With that, everyone found their place and fell asleep.

_Kent looked around the room. "I sincerely hope I'm not dead."_

_"Trust me, you're not."_

_Kent looked to his side to find Aerith standing beside him._

_"Umm. . .am I in a dream or something?"_

_"Yes. You are."_

_Kent looked behind him to see Rufus, followed by the Turks. _

_"What the hell?" Kent asked as he looked around the room._

_From the sides of the room came, for no aparrent reason, came Zechs Marquise and Treize Kushrinada from Gundam Wing._

_"You're in horrible, horrible danger." Zechs said._

_"Danger so horrible, it can't even be described by words." Treize said._

_As he finished, Kent watched Eva Unit 00 running away, the pilot - stoic as Vincent - babbling on about it being the end of the world._

_"My **god!**" Kent said. "Something's **that** evil!?"_

_Kent looked in front of him, and he saw it. . . it was. . ._

_The freshman that was obsessed with him his senior year._

Kent sat up and noticed everyone already awake and in various stages of preparing for the day ahead of them.

"That has to be one of the most messed up dreams I've ever had."

"Oh? Do tell." Red asked.

"Oh, man. I dreampt I was just kinda in this place, right? Then, all these people start coming in. Aerith, Rufus, the Turks, Zechs Marquise and Treize Kushrinada. . ."

"Gundam Wing?" Red asked.

"Yeah. . .wait. . .how'd you know that?"

"Hojo's assistant is what you'd call an 'otaku'."

"Oh. Anyway, after that, Eva unit 00 runs by, the pilot rambling on about it being the end of the world. . .

Red looked at Kent. "Keep going. . ."

"Then, it turns out it was my would be stalker from my senior year in high school."  
Red looked at Kent in an odd way. "That _is_ a messed up dream. . ."

With that, Red walked away.

Kent shook his head and stood up, trying to wipe the sleep from his eyes.

Even though it was eleven in the morning, he still didn't like the idea of waking up. It appeared that Aerith had been awake for a couple hours, though.

"Alright," Kent said, wriggling out of his sleeping bag and rolling it up. "How are we looking?"

"Like we just woke up." Cloud said. "We're almost ready to go. Just put some food in yourself and be ready to go."

Kent nodded and shoved his sleeping stuff into his pack. "I'll eat on the way. You guys good to go?"

"You betcha." Zack said. He opened a small hatch in the back of the F-22 and put another piece of materia in the back. "Cid and I will be in the air in five."

Kent looked at Zack. "I didn't know you could dogfight."

"Neither did I." Zack said. "But think about it. You think the Shinra is gonna send a squadron of fighter bombers after us?"

"I wouldn't hold it past them." Kent said.

"They still need Aerith." Zack said. "They wouldn't risk killing her. Trust me, at the _most_, they might send a recon squad. The most I would have to worry about would be a centerline tank or two. I'll be fine."

"Okay. . ." Kent said. "I'll leave that up to you. Everyone else, stay sharp. I don't wanna come out just to find there's nobody left."

Rufus tried to stretch in the cramped cockpit of his S-85.

It was the last thing AVALANCHE would be expecting. The Turks had already gotten any information they needed about the promised land from the Temple of the Ancients. All that was left was to exterminate any obstacles.

Rufus had seen what the F-22 could do. He didn't want to be caught off guard.

So he and the rest of the eighty-third airborne were going to make sure AVALANCHE was taken care of After all, the last thing they needed was for them to appear from out of nowhere and blow their operatons out of the sky.

"We're coming up on the waypoint, sir."

"Thank you." Rufus said. He was still getting used to the cockpit of the S-85. He'd been in the eighty-third before his father died, making him president, so he had a fair amount of cockpit time.

That, and he wanted to take care of the F-22 personally.

The S-85 was Shinra's most advanced fighter to date. Rufus wanted to see how it stacked up against one of the most advanced fighters he'd seen in. . .well, ever.

"Waypoint reached." Rufus called.

"I don't see anything on radar."

"It's there." Rufus said, smiling under his mask. "Trust me, it's there."

"I don't see how you coulda worked like this," Cid said, sitting in the back seat of the F-22.

"You get used to it." Zack said. "See anything back there?"

"Nothing yet." Cid replied.

Zack sighed. "Another day of nothing. Lovely."

"Better than getting into a fight." Cid said.

"Suppose you're right." Zack replied.

"Hey. . .umm. . .what do red dots mean?"

"Enemy aircraft. Why?"

"'Cause a whole bunch of 'em just showed up." Cid said.

"Where?" Zack asked.

"Two o'clock."

Zack looked to his right. Sure enough, there was what looked like a wing of fighters.

"Attention AVALANCHE F-22." Rufus' voice began. "I have a lock on you and I am about ready to fire."

"Cid, you'd better hold on." Zack said.

"Why's that?" Cid asked.

Zack didn't give him a response. He just shoved the stick up and then down, shoving the fighter in a tight dive. They both heard Rufus swear as he tucked his fighter down, following the F-22.

"Perfect," Zack mused as he saw the enemy fighter following him. "Cid, get the Aim-9 Sidewinder ready to go."

"Let me get my stomach back where it belongs." Cid said.

Zack shook his head. "It's about to get a whole lot worse."

Zack grimaced as he heard bullets whizz past the cockpit. It was on.

He kicked the throttles to the stops and put the fighter into a tight six G turn. As the afterburners kicked in, Rufus' fighter was shrouded in putrid aqua marine colored smoke.

The F-22 shot upwards, putting himself above the Shinra fighter.

"Get ready to lock on."

Zack watched in utter awe as the fighter _pivoted_. It didn't turn, it _pivoted_.

And it's nose was pointed right at the F-22.

Zack shoved the righter into an inverted dive, narrowly avoiding another burst of bullets. The fighter came out of its dive fifty feet above the water, fairly effectively keeping Rufus' fighter from getting a missile lock on him.

"Shit! He's got a lock!" Cid shouted.

"Shit!" Zack echoed.

"All too easy," Rufus thought as he pulled the trigger on the stick. With a smirk on his face, he watched the missile lance away from the wing and towards the grey, polygonic looking fighter.

And then, the F-22 dissapeared.

"What the hell?" Rufus asked.

Cid held on tight as the nose of the F-22 pointed straight up.

"Are you _insane_!?" Cid asked.

"You think this is bad, try flying with Kent for a day or two!" Zack spat back as he put the fighter into a steady fourty-five degree climb. He looked in the mirror and saw that the Shinra fighter was following him.

"Wonderful. Cid, put your mask on. We're goin' to the top of the world!"

"Too easy," Rufus thought as he fell in behind the F-22. His piper danced ever closer to the fighter's blazing hot engines.

Suddenly, the F-22 slid to the side.

"What the hell?"

"Gotta love engine tricks." Zack mused as he watched the altimeter rise ever higher. He smirked as he watched the enemy fighter try desperately to keep up.

"Coming up on eighty thousand feet. Man, how far can this thing go?"

"We're about to find out."

Zack kicked in the afterburners once more, shoving the fighter forward, as well as higher.

"Keep up with us now."

"Oh, no. Don't do this to me," Rufus started to stammer as the fighter slowly began to sputter out.

"What's the matter?" Zack taunted. "Fighter can't go that high?"

"Apparently not. But I've also got an entire wing of fighter bombers on approach to the Temple of the Ancients."

Zack grimaced. "How's that for irony?"

"Here's the question - can you take them all out before they take out your friends?"

"I dunno, Cid. Twenty-four fighters, five minutes. Think we could pull it off?"

"Do you believe in acts of god?" Cid replied.

Zack grinned. The F-22 seemed to screech in protest as he threw the left throttle into reverse and pushed the left rudder down hard.

Rufus watched as the F-22 wheeled around, its cannon winking at him. He heard the horrible sound of bullets tearing through the body of the fighter as it fell tail end first towards the earth. The master caution light came on, indicating that the S-85 wouldn't see another flight.

"Acts of men are better than acts of god." Zack said, pulling the fighter out of its latteral spin and down towards earth. "See 'ya later, pretty boy."

Rufus swore as his canopy shook violently in the slipstream of the F-22.

"Cid," Zack began, "Check the Aim one twenty count. How many do we have?"

"Umm. . .six." Cid said.

"Aim nine?"

"Three."

"Bullets?"

"Four hundred even."

"Any thoughts?" Zack asked.

Cid scoffed. "I have no damn idea."

Zack scowled. Fifty thousand feet. Not a whole lot of time to think.

"I've got an idea." Zack said. "Are you farmiliar with kamakaze?"

"No." Cid said. "You are _not _gonna drive us nose first into a fleet of fighter bombers."

"Oh yes I am." Zack said. "Arm up the Aim one twenty. This is gonna be fun."

"You are so damn stupid." Cid plainly said. "Armed and ready to go."

"Alright. When the bomb bays open up, our cross section is gonna light up like a light, so we're gonna go nose first in, fire 'em all, let them discern their own targets, pop around behind them, pick off another three, then pull a high-low yo-yo, and hammer away at the rest from underneath."

Cid said nothing. "This is so fuckin' stupid. . ."

Zack looked at the altimiter. Ten thousand feet. "Alright, get ready."

Cid grumbled something. Zack didn't dignify it with a response. He tucked the F-22 into a shallow turn. They found themselves staring down the noses of twenty-three Shinra fighters.

"Do it!"

The radar cross section of the F-22 lit up like a light as the bomb bay doors opened up and unleashed six Aim one twenty AMRAMM missiles. The six missiles each chose their own target, the six fighters in the front of the formation. With guns blaring, the F-22 cut through the two fighters in the center, getting the carbon fiber fighter behind the squadron of S-82's.

That left sixteen.

What joy.

The F-22 whipped around, giving them a beautiful view of the S-82's blazing hot engines.

The three Sidewinder missiles each danced towards a different target, and each missile downed a fighter.

Thirteen left.

The american fighter turned its nose up, ascended a bit, and then nosed down harshly. Zack had a clear shot at a fighter with his guns, and took it.

Twelve fighters.

The F-22 zipped through the enemy formation and flattened out. It nosed up just a little bit and laced three fighters with bullets, sending them smoking downwards. With another sweeping strafe run another four fell and another one was damaged.

The S-82 formation was now little more than a skewed flying V. Zack shot upwards and tailed another fighter and laced it with bullets, sending it sideways, plowing into the fighter just on its right wing.

Zack strafed once more and send the remaining three fighters into the ocean.

"AVALANCHE, the skies are clear. have a nice day."

"No. Friggin. Way." Kent said. He had just watched the F-22 take out twenty-three fighters. "That's just not right."

"How so?" Cloud asked.

"One verses twenty-three. But something wasn't right. . .they weren't moving."

"It was a bluff." Cloud said.

"Beg your pardon?" Kent asked.

"It was a bluff. Think about it. Why would they need to take care of us? For all we know, we might be the Shinra's biggest lead."

"Still doesn't explain why they'd let a wing of F-16's get shot down."

Aerith sighed; this was all greek to her.

"At any rate, they're gone." Kent said. "Let's just keep going. No use worrying about it."

"True." Aerith said.

They began walking. Kent stopped for a second, then furrowed his brow. He snapped the Hardedge off its locks and shoved it nose first into the ground behind him.

As he did, a giant lizard ran into the large Shinra made sword.

Kent pulled the sword from the ground and spun, shoving the blade into the creature's chest, causing it to cry out.

But it wasn't dead.

It charged for Kent once more, only to meet the blunt front of the sword, knocking the breath out of itself.

Kent shoved the nose of the sword into the ground once more and pointed at the lizard. From the sky lanced a bolt of lightning, striking the lizard down. With a flourish, Kent put the sword back onto his back. Aerith and Cloud looked at him.

"What?"

They just continued looking at him.

Kent sighed and shook his head. "C'mon, let's go."

The rest of the half hour journey was quite uneventful.

For Cloud, anyway.

"Does anything feel odd to you, Kent?" Aerith asked.

Kent slowly nodded and put his hand on the handle of the Hardedge. "Something's not right."

As they walked, the forest suddenly skewed away, revealing the Temple of the Ancients.

Kent's eyes lit up. "Good morning Vietnam! Jesus, I can feel all sorts of things. . ."

"Thoughs, feelings of the ancients," Aerith continued. She went to her knees, then went prone on the rickety wooden bridge. "You're upset. . .or sad? Why?"

"Anxious." Kent said.

"Because we're here?" Aerith asked.

"Sephiroth and the Shinra have already been here." Cloud said.

Kent cracked his knuckles and walked past Aerith and began to ascend the stairs to the temple.

He reached the main chamber, then turned around.

"Cloud! Aerith!"

They scurried up the stairs to join Kent, where Tseng sat, badly wounded.

Kent kneeled by the injured Turk and pulled out a spare potion. "What happened?"

"Se. . .Sephiroth is inside. . ." Tseng slowly said. He took the potion and choked down a gulp.

Aerith knealt by the long haired Turk. He'd been wounded badly. She knew there was no saving him.

"He said. . .he needed the black materia. . .heh. I guess letting you go was the start of my bad luck. . ." Tseng gestured towards Aerith. "You have to stop him. . .stop Sephiroth. . .for all our sake's."

Kent nodded and stood up. Tseng handed Cloud the keystone. "I am. . .still alive. Now go!"

Cloud put the keystone on an altar in the middle of the room. The floor below the three rippled like a pond, and before they knew it, they were standing in a stone room with an almost ghastly pink haze filling the structure.

He looked behind him to see both Kent and Aerith appear behind him. Both of them seemed to be mouthing something.

Finally, Kent opened his eyes and looked around.

"Oh, man. This is a headache waiting to happen." Kent muttered.

"It reminds me of a three sided cube." Cloud said. "It _shouldn't_ be able to happen, but it does."

Kent nodded. "Oh, this is gonna be fun. . ."

Zack steadily brought the F-22 down in a clearing and opened the cockpit, allowing both he and Cid to exit the fighter.

"Impressive." Vincent said.

Zack nodded and took his helmet off while Cid stumbled from the cockpit and took off his borrowed helmet, Igno written blatantly across the forehead. Kent's helmet.

"Man, _you_ get in the cockpit with that psycopath." Cid spat.

The blonde pilot detected a sarcastic smile on the dark man's face. "I would, but I am not a pilot."

Cid shook his head and reached up for his pack of Lucky Strikes. Which weren't there. With a few obscenities, he walked over to the camp.

Tifa walked over to Zack and looked at the F-22. "I thought you weren't a pilot."

Zack shrugged. "I wanted to be, but in the end, I didn't hack it. So, I went for the next best thing - radar operator. But I know how to operate a jet fighter."

Tifa nodded. "It shows."

"Thanks." Zack said and unzipped his heavy flight suit. He joined the camp where everyone was in a different state of randomly sitting around in boredom. Except Yuffie. She seemed to be having a hell of a time randomly poking Red.

Zack simply shook his head. Vincent and Barret finally found something to do - talk guns.

"So. . .ever think you'll get back home?" Tifa asked.

Zack just shrugged. "Couldn't tell 'ya. Why?"

"Curious." Tifa said.

Zack smiled and cast his eyes towards Tifa. "You think Cloud's still eyeballing Aerith, doncha?"

Tifa blushed a little and nodded.

Zack scoffed. "I'd hope not. Seeing as she's soon to be a married woman."

"I guess you've got a point." Tifa replied.

Zack nodded, and stood up. "Hey, Vincent, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Of course."

Vincent followed Zack behind the fighter.

"Alright, Vincent, I'm only telling this to you because I know you won't tell anyone else, and I want to keep this under wraps."

The dark man said nothing,

"Something is going to happen to Kent or Aerith." Zack plainly said. "I don't know what, and I don't know when."

Vincent nodded. "I will keep my eyes open."

"Thanks." Zack said, and walked back to the small encampment.

"My brain hurts," Kent said, finally emerging at an actual straight passage. Aerith and Cloud followed him into the hallway, Cloud looking quite displeased at the mindtrip that was the Temple of the Ancients. Aerith, on the other hand, was having a better time than either of the men.

Kent was still getting used to the feeling of being constantly connected to the deceased. It was wierd, to say the _very_ least.

"Hey, look!" Aerith said.

"Oh, god," Kent said, falling against the wall and falling into a sitting position, "No more. . ."

Aerith looked at Kent with a raised eyebrow.

Kent took his glasses off and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Aww, man. This is such a mind trip. . ."

"You're an ancient." Cloud said.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just a second; let me get you a drum and we'll see how well you march the Crusaders entire show right now." Kent said. "That's what its like."

Cloud shook his head and helped Kent stand up. "Anyway, Aerith, you were saying?"

"There's a pool." Aerith said, leading them to a glowing pool of mako.

They stood around the pool and gazed into it.

"No. . .it's a mirror. . ." Kent said.

"But, didn't you just say. . ." Cloud began.

"Quiet." Kent quietly said. A cylinder of light shot from the pool and reflected a scene that Kent had never thought he'd live to see.

His own funeral service.

Matt and Nick looked watched as the four fighters cut through the sky, the second from the left pulling straight up. The next thing they heard was the twenty-one gun salute, accompanied by taps.

The center of attention this overcast day was two caskets covered with the American flag. The entire crew of the aircraft carrier snapped a salute as the two caskets moved towards the edge of the deck. One after the other, they splashed into the ocean, leaving the very somber crew to their thoughts.

The view changed. He was watching from the flight deck of the carrier as an alpha strike was being launched. F-18's were getting chewed up and spat out faster than he could keep track of. Suddenly, he was in the cockpit of Matt and Nick's F-18.

The sounds of battle in the F-18 put Kent right back at home. But the scene playing out on the screen. . .was something he did not want to see.

"Dammit, why'd Kent have to go and get himself killed!?" Matt shouted into the cockpit as he threw his fighter around the best he could, all circumstances considered.

"They're too damned fast!" Nick shouted from the backseat. "I can't get a decent lock!"

"Do the best you can!" Matt shouted as he narrowly avoided a surface to air missile. He had no idea where the SAM's were coming from, but they sure were splashing quite a few of their own.

_They wouldn't splash the F-22_, Matt somberly thought.

"Oh, man, our forces are going down quick. . ." Nick said.

Matt swore and swung the F-18 around as quickly as he could, but his view was only brought to their aircraft carrier. . .

Being pounded by enemy planes. But not just _any_ enemy planes. . .

The brand spankin' new XF-34. Forward swept wings with variable wing surfaces that adapted to the circumstances the fighter was in. The thing was so advanced, it could almost stand still.

And they were being swarmed by them.

Matt and Nick watched in awe as the fighter was swallowed in an aquamarine swirl. . .then dissapeared.

The two airmen's eyes were on the water where the carrier should have been.

There was a silence as every last XF-34 turned to face the F-18.

"You. . .you _bastards!_" Matt shouted as he pushed the throttles to the stops. With his guns selected, he started trying to cut through the XF-34's, but there were too many, they were too fast.

The F-18 shuddered as bullets drilled through the fuselage.

"Matt!" Nick said.

"There's no need to eject." Matt calmly said, letting go of the control stick. "There's nobody to pick us up."

Nick looked on in horror as bullets continued to riddle the F-18, causing the multi ton figher to buckle horribly. Before Nick, warning lights lit up like christmas lights.

Kent looked intently at the screen. Cloud simply looked at the image slack jawed, and Aerith looked at the ghastly view of the F-18 in flames with her eyes wide as dinner plates, her hands covering her mouth.

In the image, the F-18 blossomed into flames, leaving nothing but scraps of metal.

And then. . .nothing.

Kent took his glasses off and put them in their case.

And in his eyes was devistation. His world had just come crashing in around him, quite literally. And Aerith and Cloud at witnessed it with him.

Without another word, Kent began walking down through the hallway, towards whatever awaited him.

"Do. . .you know what just happened?" Cloud asked.

"That was Kent's old squadron." Aerith said. "He's got nothing left at home."

"What about family?"

Aerith shook her head.

"Friends?"

"On the carrier."

"Then. . ." Cloud began.

"We're all that's left." Aerith said, turning to follow Kent.

Kent emerged in the mural room, his sword in hand. "I know you're here! Show yourself!"

There was a low chuckle as Sephiroth seemed to appear from out of nowhere.

"Hello, Kent." The silver haired man said. "Did you see your friends?"

Kent said nothing but lowered his body into its fighting stance. "It doesn't take a genius to figure out what you're trying to do. I'm going to stop it."

"Oh, are you?" Sephiroth asked. The doors to the mural room closed tight. "Do you really think you could kill me? After all, I _was_ the shinra's best fighter."

Kent grimaced and charged, only to see Sephiroth vanish before his very eyes.

"You're foolish." Sephiroth said. "I am becoming one with the planet. . ."  
"That means nothing if you're dead before you can do anything with that power!"

Lighting tore through the spot where Sephiroth was. "And it's so simple. You see, when the world is wounded, it gathers spirit energy to heal the wound."

Kent looked hard at Sephiroth.

"Now, imagine a wound big enough to endanger the planet. Think of the energy. . .and at the center of that energy, would be me. . .I would become a god among men!"

"And how do you intend to do that?" Kent asked.

Sephiroth's mouth melted into a creul smile as he pointed at the murals, one of which showed a huge meteor coming down. "The ultimate destructive magic, meteor. What this temple was constructed to protect. With the spell the black materia holds, I will rip the world open at its seams and suck its blood at my leisure."

"You monster." Kent said at a low growl, bringing his sword back into his hands. "Your reign of terror ends right here, right now."

"Oh, it does?" Sephiroth said. "Then kill me."

Kent dashed at Sephiroth once more, only to have Sephiroth dissapear. Kent spun around. . .

And found himself looking at a dragon.

The dragon's eyes met with Kent's own.

The dragon drew back a huge breath, and let loose with a breath of fire that totally enveloped Kent whole.

The flames stopped and revealed Kent, obviously hurt, but not showing it.

Kent lunged at the dragon faster than the scaly creature could comprehend.

And with a slash, the dragon was dead.

Kent hit the ground and found himself in quite a lot of pain.

With his last ounces of strength, he stumbled over to the door and kicked it for all it was worth. It shot open with more force than Kent had attended, and obviously just barely missed Cloud and Aerith.

And with that, he dropped flat on the ground.

Cloud walked out of the mural room. "He took on a dragon on his own."

Aerith sighed and looked down at an unconsious Kent. "I'll never understand you."

Cloud knealt down by Aerith. "Sephiroth got away."

"How can you tell?" Aerith asked.

"Kent killed the dragon with one clean slice. But he also used his lightning materia and hit nothing."

"So? What that mean?"

"Kent was intending to fight Sephiroth. But he got away and left the dragon."

Aerith sighed and looked back down at Kent. She'd used a cure spell on him a while ago, and he still hadn't come to.

Finally, his eyes flittered open.

"Oh, damn." He uttered.

"Kent? Are you okay?" Aerith asked.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" Cloud asked.

"Ugh. . .three. . .two. . .four. . .one. . .hey!"

Cloud smiled evilly as Aerith gave him the evil eye and Kent told him he was "number one" in his own way.

"Well," Kent said, sitting up, "Sephiroth got away."

"So we gathered." Cloud said.

"But, I've figured out how this temple works." Kent said. "It's like a big puzzle box. You solve a bunch of puzzles, and the temple gets smaller until its roughly the size of my fist."  
"Okay, the. . ."

Kent cut Cloud off before he could finish. "The only catch is that you have to do it from the inside. So you end up crushing yourself in the end."

"We have to figure out a way to get it." Aerith said. "It would be nothing to Sephiroth to throw away a lackey to get it."

"True." Kent said, suddenly remembering Sephiroth's "lackeys". Black cloaked figures with tatooed numbers on their hands.

Kent jumped as his phone started ringing. He picked it up and heard Cait's annoying voice.

"Sorry, but I was eavesdropping. I heard the whole thing. You guys could use my stuffed body to get the materia."

"Har har, cat." Kent said. "The minute I let you touch the black materia is the minute I lay down in my grave and _die_."

"That's too bad." Cait replied. "Would you rather have Cloud do it? How 'bout Aerith? Seems only fitting that. . ."

"Alright, alright. Git down here." Kent sharply said and hung up.

"What was that about?" Aerith asked.

"Cait's gonna do the puzzles."

"What?" Aerith asked.

"Don't worry 'bout it. I figured he was mechanical. He just affirmed it." Kent said. "I _still_ don't like the idea of having a spy doing the work."

Cloud nodded. "I think it's time we left the temple anyway. Here, let's get going."

The blonde haired ex-SOLDIER helped Kent up, and the three began to walk from the temple.

The three emerged from the temple to find the entire group waiting for them, Cait Sith in the front.

The massive mog gave Aerith a giant hug. "That's a thank you. For trusting me."

The mog backed off. "I wish there was something I could do in return. . ."

"Hey! You could tell a fortune!" Aerith said.

Cait smiled. With a wave of his hands, his mog let loose a shower of streamers, confetti, banners and sparkles. "I haven't done that in a while. What should I predict?"

"Tell me if I live to see a ripe old age!" Cid offered.

"See if I hit it big!" Yuffie said.

"Tell me if I get to see Marlene 'gain!" Barret asked.

"Tell us how our marrage will go!" Aerith said, clinging to Kent's arm.

Cait nodded, and started digging around in his mog's mouth. He pulled out fifteen packs of gum, eight rolls of duct tape, four towels, a plastic samurai sword, an old record, an almost ancient record player, and a model Gundam.

Kent raised an eyebrow as Cait almost crawled in the moogle. From his standpoint, Kent _swore_ he saw a C-130.

Cait hopped out. "Well, whaddaya know? I lost all my fourtunes."

Kent shook his head and shoved his head in. "Holy shit, man. . .what all do you _have_ in this thing!?"

"Oh, odds and ends. . ."

"Jesus christ!"

Kent hopped back out, a piece of paper in one hand, and a chiuawa chawing on his other arm. He handed Cait the shred of paper and set about removing the dog from his person.

"And it says. . ."

". . .yes?" Aerith said.

"I can't make heads or tails of this."

Kent finally got the dog off him. He took the paper and read it.

"You will find new friends in odd places." He turned it over. "You will have to make an important decision very soon."

"What does _that_ mean?" Aerith asked.

Kent just shrugged. "Who knows?"

"Well, I'm off!" Cait said. "Take good care of yourself, and Aerith, too! And don't forget, even if another Cait Sith comes along, there's only _one_ me!"

With that, Cait was off into the temple.

Kent sighed, and walked up to Zack.

"Dude, I've got some bad news." Kent simply said.

"Oh?" Zack asked.

"Yeah." Kent said. "The squadron's done for."

"What? How do you know?" Zack asked.

"The planet showed us." Kent said, indicating Cloud and Aerith.

"Even the carrier?"

"Even the carrier."

Zack sighed and shook his head. "I should have known our dissapearance would have been the start of the end."

"We _did_ carry the squadron." Kent said.

"Funny, I thought Zain and Jason did. Doesn't matter much anymore, though."

From behind the two reminicing comrades, the temple began to violently shake and change colors from a moss colored stone color to a light bending black. Slowly, the temple began to shrink. Before long, the temple was small enough that it couldn't be seen from the ground, it had to be viewed from the stone border.

As Cloud looked down the pit, it seemed odd that the whole temple fit into it. But the maze, the pool, the mural room. . .it was odd. Finally, the temple stopped shrinking and turned into a straight black piece of materia.

"Looks kind of harmless, don't you think?" Aerith asked, joining Cloud. "It's black, and a bit bigger than ours, but otherwise it doesn't look any different."

"Kinda wierd how that little thing could destroy the world, huh?" Cloud said as he bent down to pick it up. "But, as long as we have it, Sephiroth can't use it."

"Even so, he'd need to find the promised land."

"Since he isn't a real ancient, he can't find it, anyhow." Cloud said.

_Ah, but I have_.

With his massive sword in hand, Sephiroth appeared at the former temple site. He floated down to where Aerith and Cloud stood. "I have become a traveller of the lifestream, and I have gained the knowledge of the ancients! This world is now mine!"

Sephiroth dropped to the ground and knealt before Cloud.

"Give me," Sephiroth said at a low growl, "The black materia."

From his body, Sephiroth emitted a powerful blast of air, blowing everybody, except Cloud, to the wall surrounding the site.

Cloud reached for his sword, but before he could draw it, it felt like his entire being shattered.

And from outside, he saw himself pick up the black materia. He slowly staggered towards Sephiroth. . .

_No! _He heard himself say. _Don't be afraid!_

He watched on, in horror, as he willingly put the black materia into Sephiroth's hands.

Cloud found himself back in his body. Sephiroth smiled wide, then dissapeared, black materia in hand.

Cloud looked down at his own hands.

"Cloud! It's not your fault!" Aerith was almost screaming at him. "Sephiroth had control of you! Please, listen! We can go after him, and get the black mat. . !"

With a howl of rage, Cloud smashed Aerith to the ground with a powerful right hook to the face. Within seconds, he was down with her, beating her senseless.

"What have I done!?" Cloud shouted at nobody in particular.

Kent looked at the scene. But he didn't think. He simply acted.

He leapt down the hole and landed right next to Cloud. He interlaced his fingers and smashed Cloud hard across the face, sending him well off Aerith. It didn't take long for Kent to straddle Cloud with his combat knife in hand.

_Cloud looked around the forest. It seemed to be soothing, relaxing. He felt a weight lift off his shoulders._

_From the treetops, Aerith dropped down. She looked at Cloud and smiled._

_Momentarily, Cloud wondered how many lives she'd saved with that smile. . ._

_"Hi." She said, kneeling down in a patch of flowers._

_Cloud crossed his arms and leaned against a tree. "Sorry about hitting you. It's just. . ."_

_"Don't worry about it." Aerith said, plucking some flowers from the ground. But Cloud could tell she was smiling. "I know what it must have been like, Cloud."_

_The Ex-SOLDIER stood and was about to say something when Aerith simply dissapeared._

_"Or, you could honestly worry about it." Aerith said, wrapping her arms around his waist from behind him. "And don't worry about Sephiroth. . .Kent and I can handle him. But you need to relax before you have another breakdown, okay?"_

_Cloud looked around the forest one more time. "Hey. . .where are we?" He asked._

_Aerith moved out in front of him and took out the wreath of flowers she had woven. "We are in the Sleeping Forest." She said, putting the wreath on a branch of a small birch tree. "It's far to the north, and beyond it is the City of the Ancients. There's a weapon there that I can beat Sephiroth with once and for all."_

_"So. . .what's the big secret?" Cloud asked._

_"Well, if I told you, it wouldn't be a secret, now would it?" Aerith giggled._

_Cloud looked down, but before he did, he saw the ring on her finger. . . and his voice was gone._

_"Well, I guess that's it. Just remember that Kent and I are always with you and the rest of the group. . .and we'll see eachother when this is all over."_

_Aerith smiled at him once more._

_Before she could turn the whole way around, she dissapeared in a blue light._

_"That girl," Sephiroth hissed from behind him, "Is becoming quite troublesome. We're going to have to do something about that, won't we?"_

_Before Cloud could even do anything, he saw the Masamune's blade come forth from his chest. . ._

"No! Aerith!" Cloud shouted.

His surroundings had suddenly changed. He was in a bed. And in the room with him was Barret and Tifa.

"She's gone. . ."

"Good call." Barret said. "Kent an' her have been missing ever since you went wacko. They took off in the F-22. Nobody's seen 'em since."

Cloud sighed. "They're going to the City of the Ancients up north. She told me that in a dream. . .but I can't go. . ."

Tifa fell off the bed she was sitting on. "Why not?"

"Are you _blind_!?" Cloud nearly exploded. "I gave the black materia to Sephiroth!"

Barret picked Cloud up from the collar of his shirt.

"And now you've got a chance to _get it back_!" Barret exploded, the veins in his neck clearly sticking out. "And you're going to sit here, all weepy and crap, while everyone's out there looking for Kent and Aerith? I never figured you for a quitter."

Barret deposited him none too kindly on the floor.

Cloud picked himself up and walked outside. Tifa stood up and went to follow. Barret held his arm out to stop her.

"He's got a lot on his mind." He said. "Let him go."

Cloud looked around Gongada. Not much had changed in the last two weeks. The reactor was still smoking, though. He briefly wondered if the Shinra even knew this town still existed.

The dream. It seemed so real, so vivid. Did Aerith really talk to him? Was she really headed to the lost city?

And Kent. . .was he the one that had saved Aerith from her near demise? She didn't have any marks on her, even from the violent shot to the face. . .

Cloud suddenly felt ashamed. He could have killed her, and now he wasn't even going to help her in her most desperate hour? She did have Kent with her. . .but he was only one man, and Sephiroth could easily take care of him, and then Aerith. . .

Cloud cursed loudly and headed back into the inn, where Barret was talking to Cid on his phone.

"Tell Cid to get here on the fly. We're going north. We're gonna find Aerith, even if its the end of me."

Aerith slept softly next to the fire Kent had built in the campsite. In his hands, Kent turned over the staff Aerith had found in the Temple of the Ancients.

Princess Guard, it was called. It was an odd weapon; it appeared to be entirely reinforced with materia. It was segmented red and silver with a gold striking edge on top that was one part decorative, one part deadly.

For some reason, it made him think of the Hardedge.

Except the Princess Guard wasn't Shinra made.

Things were so messed up right now. Cloud and Sephiroth had some sort of connection. Kent himself had some Jenova cells in him. . .so why didn't Sephiroth try to manipulate him? Was Cloud just easier to manipulate?

Or maybe Sephiroth was just waiting to mess with him. . .

That sure would make it easier to take care of Aerith, wouldn't it?

Kent shuddered at the thought. Sephiroth may have tried to kill Aerith through Cloud. . .and he probably would have, if Kent hadn't interjected.

As a matter of fact, Kent had almost broken a couple bones in his hands, even through his thick flight gloves.

Then comes the number one question - could he hold off if Sephiroth tried to manipulate him?

He didn't know was what it came down to. He saw his squadron taken out in painful detail.

It was something of a mixed blessing. It saddened him to no end, yet it also gave him the power to go on.

So. . .what if Sephiroth made him kill Aerith? What would happen then?

His thoughts drifted back to Heidi and how he was after she died. It was almost like a little part of him died that night.

But Aerith. . .she ressurrected that part of him. That part that let him enjoy life. If she died. . .

It suddenly hit him like a ton of bricks.

If Aerith died, he would have nothing left. Everything would be gone. His squadron was gone, his parents, Heidi, and then Aerith. . .

Kent blocked everything out. He couldn't think about it.

He looked down at Aerith' sleeping form.

God, she was beat up.

She had a lovely black eye that was almost swollen shut. From what Kent could tell, she also had two broken ribs, a fractured arm, and a broken nose, not to mention the multitude cuts a briuses she'd incurred.

He hoped to bloody hell he gave Cloud a concussion.

_Kent held his combat knife in his hand, but it wasn't needed. He'd knocked Cloud out cold._

_"Kent! What are you doing!?" He remembered Tifa yelling at him. He seemed to remember Barret lifting him off the unconsious Cloud and making sure the ex-SOLDIER was still alive. On the side of his head that Kent had hit, there was a bloody spot._

_"Is he dead?" Tifa asked."_

_"Naa. He's still alive." Barret said, dropping Kent, who still seemed to be in a daze. Snapping out of his daze, Kent put his combat knife back in his boot and looked over at Aerith._

_"Holy shit." Kent said, looking at the battered Aerith. She, too, was out cold. Vincent and Cid came down into the pit._

_"Is she okay?" Cid asked._

_Kent knealt down and inspected her wounds. "I think she will be, but she looks pretty bad."_

_"Here, let's just get them to the camp site." Zack said, joining the group in the pit._

_Quite a bit later, they were all gathered around the campsite, Aerith slowly coming to._

_"Mornin', sunshine." Kent said as Aerith opened her eyes. At least she tried to. One seemed to be swollen shut._

_"Oh. . .what happened?" Aerith asked._

_"Cloud beat you senseless." Zack said. _

_"How **is** Cloud?" Aerith asked._

_"Kent beat **him** senseless with one hit." Zack replied. _

_"Oh my god. . .is he okay?"_

_"Who knows?" Barret said. "He could have killed you, though. Kent saved your life."_

_Aerith nodded. _

_"Here, why don't you have something to eat." Tifa said, dishing up some of her famous 'Seventh Heaven Stew'._

_"No thanks." Aerith said. "I'm not hungry."_

_"Okay," Tifa wearily said. _

_"Hold that order!" Kent shouted from the underbelly of the F-22. "Dammit, Zack! There were nine missles down here and you used them **all**!?"_

_"Well, yeah." Zack said. _

_Kent shook his head and joined the group at the camp. "Here, Tifa, let me try that stew."_

_Tifa handed him the bowl and Kent dug right it. After a second, he decided he liked it. "Not bad."_

_Tifa smiled. "Thanks."_

_Within minutes, the stew was gone, and AVALANCHE was beginning to fall asleep, and Kent with them._

_Suddenly, Kent found himself awakened by Aerith._

_"Kent, let's go." She whispered._

_Kent grumbled something. "Where?"_

_"Just come with me."_

_Kent followed Aerith to where the F-22 was. It was miraculously pointed the opposite way from the way it was pointing and was prepped for takeoff. "Come on, we have to go to the City of the Ancients."_

_Kent looked at Aerith. And he knew, right then, what was going on._

_It was up to them to save the planet._

Cid and Vincent, as per usual, were arguing over some minute point on the map. Yuffie reclaimed her spot on the tail, while Tifa and Cloud sat together on one wing. Red and Barret were talking about _something_ on the other wing, which left Zack on his own in the middle of the Tiny Bronco.

Why would they do this? This wasn't like Aerith, but he could definitely see Kent pulling something like that. But Kent seemed to be in a daze ever since Cloud had beaten Aerith.

Maybe Aerith was desperate enough to convince Kent to take her to the City of the Ancients.

Who knew nowadays? Shit, things were really getting out of hand.

Like the squadron. They were gone. Just like that.

Zack slowly came to the realization that the ony think Kent had left was Aerith.

And wherever she went, that was where he'd be, sword in hand, ready to die for her.

Because if Aerith died, Kent would cease to be. He'd be an empty husk of a man with nothing at all to live for.

That was almost _painfully _obvious. If Barret hadn't stopped him, Kent probably would have killed Cloud right there.

"Yo!"

Zack shook his head to clear the cobwebs out.

"You 'wake?"

"Define awake." Zack said.

Barret shook his head. "Hey, I gotta question for 'ya."

"Go ahead."

"You think Sephiroth's gonna show at this City of the Ancients?"

"Probably." Zack said. "Aerith is going to be a thorn in his side. He's gonna do one of a couple things. He's going to try to manipulate Kent to do it, manipulate Cloud to do it, or do it himself."

"You think Sephiroth would try to use Cloud again?"

"Done it before." Zack said. "Don't see why he wouldn't do it again."

"He could be expecting it." Barret said.

Zack sighed, and turned over on his stomach. "Okay, everyone, gather 'round. We're gonna need a strategy."

Everyone on the Tiny Bronco gathered in the middle of the vessel.

"So, this is where it's all gonna hit the fan." Kent muttered to himself as Aerith led them into the City of the Ancients.

It was freezing cold, to Kent, who was at least wearing full clothing. That meant that Aerith had to be freezing cold.

"Hey, uhh. . .Aerith, why don't you put this on?" Kent offered her his flight jacket.

"No, thanks, I'm fine." Aerith said.

Kent shrugged. "Okay. . ."

She wasn't fine. She was visibly shivvering, and it was really starting to worry him.

"Just think. . .after this, it'll be all over." Aerith said.

"Yeah." Kent said. "All over. . ."

The tension in the air was so thick, Kent thought he could cut it with his combat knife. Something was going to happen. _What_ was going to happen, he couldn't discern, but he knew it was going to happen.

And when it did, there would be quite a few unhappy people. And, he figured, he'd be one of those said unhappy people.

Kent started to feel apprehensive as they entered a huge shell building. This was where it was all gonna go down.

"Hey, you go on ahead, I'll keep guard here." Kent said.

Aerith nodded and continued up the building.

Kent stepped out of the building and produced his cell phone. He dialed.

"Rufus here."  
"Rufus, this is Kent."

There was a pause.

"Hartmann, you have got to be shitting me. You stole the Tiny Bronco, splashed the _entire_ eighty-third airborne, and now you call me!?"

"Seems that way." Kent said.

Rufus sighed. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't hang up on you."

"I can still take you out no problem." Kent said.

"Yeah, right." Rufus snapped. "I saw you take down the eighty-third, and you just _barely_ did it. I highly doubt you could take out the entirety of the Junon _and_ Midgar forces."

"You do realize," Kent said, "That Zack was the pilot, not me. If I were in it, not only would I have splashed your entire squadron, I would have made a mockery of their existance. Besides, I know better than to take you to the top of the world like Zack did."

"Dammit, Hartmann. . ." Rufus grumbled. "Fine. What the hell do you want."

"The Turks. At my location."

Rufus sardonicially laughed. "Beat you to the punch. They're on their way right now."

"Good." Kent said.

With that, Rufus hung the phone up. Kent sighed, drew his sword, and walked up to the top level of the building, keeping watch on a crystal staircase that Aerith was already decending.

"Good luck." Kent whispered.

Cloud shook his head. "It's just like my dream. . ."

He looked to his right and even saw the wreath of flowers hanging on a branch.

Zack looked around. "I'm getting some bad vibes from up ahead."

"That's our destination." Cloud said, fingering the hilt of the Murasame.

Vincent drew his gun. For the first time, Zack noticed he was toting Kent's Desert Eagle.

Zack smiled and drew his trusty Casull .454.

Cloud led the group forward, out of the forest and into a swamp.

Barret looked around the swampland. "She sure picked a helluva way to go, huh?"

Cloud said nothing and concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other.

Cid sighed. "Man, I don't know if this could. . ."

"Don't say it." Zack plainly said.

"What?" Cid replied.

"You know damn well what I'm talkin' about. You say it, and it's gonna start pouring down rain. This far north, it'll be freezing rain."

As they continued on down the valley, the smell of raw mako became more pronounced, but it also got colder very quickly.

Finally, they emerged at the edge of a valley, overlooking what appeared to be a town made out of nothing but spiral shelled buildings.

"Welcome to the City of the Ancients." Cloud said. "This is where the fun begins."

"And the chase ends." Zack said. "We're taking Sephiroth down"

Reno looked around the City of the Ancients with a look of disdain. "It's kinda boring, wouldn't you say, slaphead?"

Rude said nothing at his new nickname but joined his partner at the crossroads leading in four different directions. "We should find our objective."

Reno shook his head and pulled out his nightstick. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. . ."

"He's right, y'know."

Elena walked up behind them.

"Finally decided to join us?" Reno asked with a smug grin on his face."

"I wanna get back at them for what they did to Tseng." She said. Inside her jacket, she checked to make sure she had her guns.

"Good god, woman!" Reno said as she hauled out an MP5 sub machine gun and a Socom .45 caliber handgun from her jacket. From a duffel bag she was toting, she pulled a ten gauge shotgun and strapped it to her back.

"What were Rufus' orders?" Rude asked.

"Something about kill on sight." Elena said.

". . .Kill _who_ on sight?" Reno asked.

"I don't know. All I heard was kill on sight, so I assumed AVALANCHE."

Reno looked at Elena in awe. Rude _swore_ he saw a tumbleweed pass through.

". . .I want to hurt you _so bad_ right now. . ."

"Shut up. Change of plans. We're doing this covert." Rude said. "Follow me, and stay out of sight."

"Alright, you guys know the plan, right?"

Everyone nodded their heads. Their plan was a simple one, two groups flank, one charges right in. It was so easy, nobody could botch it.

"Alright." Zack said, drawing his guns and making sure they were loaded. "Let's kick it!"

Zack, Red, and Cid went straight forward. Cloud, Vincent, and Tifa flanked left and Yuffie and Barret flanked right. Zack totally missed the Turks as he loaded his Casull, and Red and Cid were too engrossed in their mind set to catch them.

"Let's follow them." Rude said, signaling for Reno and Elena to follow.

"And so, the party starts."

Kent watched as the Turks walked in and down the crystal staircase. He could barely see it, but they appeared to take shelter in buildings in the lower sanctum.

After that, the entirety of AVALANCHE showed up, minus Cait Sith.

"Okay, part two." He heard Zack say. "Let's kick it."

Cloud led the group up the building to the staircase. The whole group decended the stairs, leaving Kent an opening to get on the stairs to keep an unsuspected attack from Sephiroth from coming.

With Hardedge drawn, Kent watched as Aerith prayed on the central altar of the sanctum. The Turks were nowhere to be seen, but AVALANCHE seemed to be keeping pretty good tabs on things.

Cloud joined Aerith on the altar. He drew the Murasame and wielded it. . .just like Sephiroth.

Sephiroth was manipulating Cloud once more. But from where?  
Kent looked up the stairs and saw the dark man. Sephiroth furled his brow as he watched Cloud.

Kent pulled his Colt .45 from his holdster and fired three rounds at Sephiroth, breaking his concentration. Cloud dropped the Murasame, catching the rest of the group's attention.

Sephiroth drew the Masamune and charged at Kent.

Kent swore and holdstered his handgun. He'd have to time this just right. . .

Just as Sephiroth was about to run him through, he jumped of the step he was on, swung his sword on top of the step, and hung under the step, one hand on the handle of the Hardedge, the other on the blunted nose of it. Using his momentum, Kent swung up onto the opposite side of the stair he was on and smashed Sephiroth across the face with the back end of the Hardedge, and onto the lower platform. Kent followed in hot persuit.

As Kent jumped to the lower platform, he flipped the Hardedge so that its handle was nestled in his hands.

Sephiroth brandished his Masamune, and the two fighters went at it.

Sephiroth threw a violent swing Kent's way, only to have it blocked by the Hardedge. Kent took the advantage and swung at Sephiroth, only to hit nothing. The Masamune swung low. Kent jumped it and took a step towards Sephiroth, jabbing him in the chest with the blunt tip of the Hardedge, knocking the air out of him. Kent pulled his pistol and fired three rounds into him.

To Kent's dismay, the form before him dissapeared in black whisps of fog.

Then, he saw it. Sephiroth above Aerith. His sword pointed downwards.

Sephiroth jumped.

Being a fighter pilot, Kent knew life or death rested in fractions of a second. So it was here.

Kent ran towards the pillar and took a step to jump.

As he did, his slick marching shoe slipped out from under him. He caught himself and leapt towards the pillar, his shoulder intended to hit Sephiroth as he came down.

Time slowed down. Kent heard Zack's Casull going off, but it didn't even phase Sephiroth. The bullets bounced off him like rubber. Kent was Aerith' only chance.

But was it enough?

Kent reached the hand guard of the altar and pushed off it to get more boost, but it was too late.

The Masamune blossomed forth from Aerith' chest.

"Aerith!"

Kent dropped the Hardedge and slid to a stop on his knees, just in time to catch Aerith as Sephiroth pulled his sword from her body.

Kent looked down at Aerith, gasping for breath. His vison suddenly became blurry. _Are those my tears?_ he thought.

Aerith ran her hand across Kent's face. "Please don't cry. I don't want to die seeing you cry."

Kent nodded and smiled at Aerith.

Aerith smiled back and slowly closed her eyes.

And Kent watched as Aerith died in his arms.

It took a moment for Kent to find his voice. But when he did, he let loose with a mixed howl of anger, sadness, and loss.

He looked back down at her and let the tears start flowing. Nobody noticed the glowing pale green crystal drop from the ribbon in her hair. Her braid slowly came out, her light brown hair cascading down her back.

Slowly, Kent's mind began to register what had just happened. He'd just lost Aerith.

The only thing left in his life. The only thing left to live for.

Kent's mind tried to shut down his body as the grim realization came. His head began to feel swimmy as he almost felt himself dying right there.

_Only after you've lost everything can you do anything. . ._

Slowly, Kent set Aerith down and set his glasses next to her.

"Do not worry," Sephiroth began, "Soon, this girl will become part of the planet's life, and through the planet, a part of me, as I travel north through the snow fie-"

"Shut _up_!" Kent roared with a ferocity he didn't think possible. His voice echoed in odd ways around the room, almost giving his voice a holy thunder to it.

Sephiroth smiled once more. "There's no need to pretend you're angry. Or that you're sad."

Kent squinted his eyes at Sephiroth, taking deep breaths. "No, Sephiroth. I'm _not_ your puppet."

"But you are, Kent." Sephiroth said. "The same cells that course through your blood course through mine - Jenova's cells."

"I don't care _who's_ fucking cells are running through me!" Kent shouted. "Because now I've lost everything. . ."

Sephiroth smiled. Somebody with nothing to live for would be an easy kill.

"And only after I've lost everything can I do _anything_. . ."

Kent merely looked at the Hardege. Without any provocation, the blade picked itself up and shot into Kent's grasp. He took his fighting stance. . .

The ground cracked in a three foot radius, a shower of green mako shrouding Kent, dousing him in its power. The mako subsided, showing a vastly different Kent.

His hair, rather than being its normal shade of dark brown was now a dusty blonde. His eyes were all white, and his entire body seemed to eminate with an energy that cast an aura around his body.

"This ends here." Kent said.

Sephiroth glowered at Kent. "You've said that before."

With a shout, Kent launched himself towards Sephiroth.

Sephiroth easily blocked the slash and retaliated with one of his own.

But he stopped short.

Sephiroth looked down and saw a warm, red liquid running down his chest. Then, he feld a hot pain in his shoulder.

The Hardedge's blade had a splotch of blood on it. His blood.

Kent's eyes appeared to lock onto his.

In a matter of seconds, Sephiroth had dissapeared, and he dropped a sickly green limb.

"Get Aerith outta here!" Kent shouted as Jenova started to grow.

Cloud grabbed Aerith and ran for the crystal staircase as Jenova grew to its full height, its many limbs and tentacles writhing about.

Kent brandished the Hardedge. This would not be an easy battle.

The tentacles all rushed forward to attack him. In his augmented state, he easily backflipped over them and onto the hand rail.

Because of the dousing of mako, Kent no longer needed materia to cast spells. He pointed at Jenova and cast a fire spell. Quickly, he ducked to avoid a tentacle. He whipped the Hardedge around his back, stopping a tentacle in its tracks. Another three of the tentacles charged for him, but he easily stopped them with an ice spell.

He barely dodged another two that were attempting to impale him from both sides. With the skill of a world class gymnist, he dodged another three and landed in front of Jenova.

The tentacles seemed to stop and home in on Kent once more. This time, though, he charged Jenova, the tentacles following. With a giant leap, he soared over Jenova and almost into the water. To Kent's suprise, the tentacles didn't impale Jenova, like he'd hoped they would.

Rather, they came down to strike him. Hard.

Kent was barely able to dodge. He jumped away from the tentacles and back over Jenova. At the apex of his flight, he slashed the creature and came down hard in front of it. He spun around quickly to see the tentacles once more pointed his way. He slowly backed up into another tentacle behind him.

Upon closer inspection, he was surrounded by the tentacles.

_Let's see you get away now, boy!_ He heard Jenova say.

Kent smiled as he picked the one spell he needed for this maneuver. The lifestream screamed at him, but it was the only spell strong enough to take out Jenova.

He spread his arms wide and took a deep breath. The tentacles shot straight for him.

"Let's see how you take Dark Matter!"

The dark magic surrounded everything on the pillar in a black field. In the center of it, a white blade of energy began whirling. The blade cut through Jenova, the tentacles. . .and Kent.

The blackness subsided, leaving nothing of Jenova but a puddle of green gore. And in the middle of the altar was Kent, his body battered, blood almost covering his body.

He smiled, fell to his knees, then flat on his face.

He rolled over on his back and looked up through the cover of the altar at the sunlight filtering through.

"This must be what it feels like to die. . ."

As his vision clouded over, he could have _sworn_ he saw Reno standing over him, followed by Rude.

He felt himself being lifted up, and being carried somewhere.

Zack looked at Aerith. "I can't believe it. I can't believe Sephiroth killed her."

"It was almost me who killed her." Cloud said, looking at his sword.

"But you _didn't_." Zack said. "Right now. . .it doesn't even matter, Cloud."

Vincent looked around the area. All that was here was the spiral shell building and a small, deep pond. One entrance, one exit.

"Someone's coming." Vincent said, looking at the door of the shell building, his gun drawn.

Barret leveled his arm cannon at the door as he saw Reno coming through. But he stopped when he saw what else was coming - Reno and Rude were carrying what looked like a barely alive Kent. Elena followed behind them, tears streaming from her eyes.

There were no words exchanged as they brought Kent to the group.

Zack looked at his companion. "What happened to him?"

"He used an extremely powerful spell called Dark Matter." Rude plainly said. "It totally obliterated Jenova."

Zack nodded. "Kent? Can you hear me?"

Kent looked up at Zack. "Z. . .Zack. . ."

"Damn, man, you look half dead." Zack said.

"That's not too far from true." Kent said. "I'm too far gone for help now."

Zack looked at his partner. ". . .You're joking, right?"

"Besides, there's nothing left for me." Kent said. "But I can still do one thing. Set me down next to Aerith."

The two Turks set him down next to his fiance.

Kent looked down at her and took a deep breath.

_Please, _he pleaded to the planet, _give me just a little bit of your power. . ._

Slowly, Kent took off his gloves, his hands glowing a vehement green. He wriggled his fingers and set them on Aerith' chest.

Time stopped as the green glow surrounded her body.

The glow faded out. . .

And Aerith' bright emrald eyes shot open.

The entire group was awestruck. Everyone had seen Aerith die before their eyes, and then, they saw her brought to life again.

Aerith looked up at Kent's destroyed body.

"Oh my god. . .Kent. . ."

Kent just shook his head. "I used the last of my energy to ressurect you."

Aerith sat up and looked at Kent. "No. . .no, we can still save you."

Kent smiled. "No. . .no. . .Aerith, it's okay." he said. "Just. . .promise me one thing. . ."

Aerith nodded, her eyes filling with tears.

"Live for me."

Kent smiled. "Aerith. . .I . . .love. . .you. . ."

He closed his eyes and died.

Aerith just sat there for a second. . .then she buried her head in Kent's shoulder and let the tears come.

For a while, there was no sound but the sound of Aerith' crying.

But something happened to Reno.

As he watched the scene, his cold, creul heart. . .broke. He felt tears welling up in his eyes, but he couldn't stop them from coming. Upon closer inspection, everybody else seemed to be in the same state, except for Rude and Vincent.

Zack stepped forward and knealt by Aerith, softly putting his hand on her shoulder.

Slowly, she pulled her face away from Kent's shoulder and looked at Zack.

"Don't worry." Zack said, a sorrowful smile on his face. "He'll find his peace."

Finding herself without words, she buried her face in Zack's chest and let the tears flow, throwing her arms around her. Stunned, Zack returned her embrace.

Reno looked at Vincent, Rude, and Cloud. Slowly, they walked towards Kent's body.

Zack stood up, Aerith standing with him.

"We should pay out last respects first." Vincent said. Everyone solemnly agreed.

Cid sighed, and knealt over his fallen comrade. He reached up for a cigarette, but stopped himself. He took the whole pack out of his goggles and threw them astray. "You always said these things would kill me. Well, you were an astonishing pilot, but I guess it was your time. And don't worry. . .I'll try to stay clean."

Tifa looked down at Kent's prone form. "Kent," She began, sighing, "You truly were an admirable man. Sure, sometimes you were a jerk, but the good things far outweighed the bad. You were a good guy, and I'll miss you."

She smiled at him and moved away. Red walked over to Kent's body. He searched around for words, and finally found some.

"You truly personified valiantry and chivalry. I mean it when I say nobody can replace you. Ever. Farewell."

Yuffie looked over at the pilot and knealt by him. "You were a good guy." She shakily said. "I'll miss you. . ." She took a step back and let the tears flow.

Barret looked at Kent. "Well, man. . .If 'ya see Wedge, Biggs, 'n' Jessie, tell 'em I said hi. Ya woulda been a good guy in AVALANCHE." The big man sighed. "I guess I'll be seeing 'ya 'round."

Cloud looked at Kent. "I'm sorry I failed you. . .and that I failed Aerith. But. . .you were such a rock for us to lean on. You are a teammate that will truly be missed."

Vincent looked at Kent's body and sighed. "Kent, you taught me that emotions are something worth having, and that my soul is saved and that I am forgiven. You've given all of us the strength to go on. I thank you."

With that, he pulled out the Desert Eagle and set it on his chest. "I feel you should have it back."

Reno looked down at Kent's body and sighed. "You were a formidable opponent, worthy enough to have joined the Turks. Man, I'm gonna miss you."

Zack sighed. "Man, you always said you wanted to go down in a hail of shrapnel and flames. But you bit it for a worthy cause, like I thought you would, not fighting for duty, or the will of governments. You did yourself proud. Make sure you clear things up with Heidi, too. Tailwinds always, Kent. Tailwinds always."

Aerith looked at Kent's prone form. "Kent. . .you were my pillar of strength, my hope. . .my everything." She began to choke up. "And you even _died_ for me. I. . .I thank you. And. . .I love you, too."

Once more, she let the tears flow. She regained her composure, and next to Kent, she shoved the Princess Guard into the ground as a grave marker. She blinked away her tears and managed a smile.

From the shell building, Cid emerged, the Hardedge in one hand, Kent's glasses in the other. He set the Hardedge on the ground, wiped off Kent's glasses, and put them on his face.

Aerith looked at Kent's body. For no apparent reason, she took the magenetic locks for the Hardedge off of him, as well as his gloves. In the pond, she rinsed off the locks and the sword, put the locks on, and put the Hardedge on her back.

She sighed, and looked at Kent's body once more.

"Farewell."

Vincent nodded. Reno, Rude, Cloud, and himself moved Kent out into the pond, then let go. Slowly, his body began to sink into the pond.

As he sank, Cid, Zack, Reno. Rude, and Cloud snapped a quick salute.

Aerith watched as Kent sank into the pond. Overtaken by greif, she dropped to her knees and buried her face in her hands.


End file.
